Albert, originally Martinsburg, is a
ghost town
A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...
located southeast of
Fredericksburg and west of the
Blanco County line in southeastern
Gillespie County, Texas, United States.
The town was a stop on the Fredericksburg-
Blanco stage route;
[ in 1967, it became a stop on the President's Ranch Trail.
In late October 2007, the town was put up for sale on the auction website eBay.]
Early history
On December 15, 1847, a petition was submitted to create Gillespie County. In 1848, the legislature formed Gillespie County from Bexar and Travis counties. While the signers were overwhelmingly German immigrants, names also on the petition were Castillo, Pena, Munos, and a handful of non-German-Anglo names.
The first white settlers were George Cauley, Ben White, Sr., and a man named Jacobs.[ Around 1877, ]blacksmith
A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...
Fritz Wilke, George Maenius, and John Petri moved from Fredericksburg seeking pasture for their cattle.[ Wilke bought land from a man named Elmeier, who was robbed and murdered years later.][
The Martinsburg ]post office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...
operated from 1877 to 1886.[ In 1892, Martinsburg got a new post office and a new name, after Albert Luckenbach sold his store in Luckenbach; he arrived to register a new post office in town, under the name Albert.][
A school was established in 1891; in 1897, postmaster Otto Schumann opened the town's first store. In 1900 a new school building was erected; 36th ]President of the United States
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...
Lyndon Baines Johnson was briefly enrolled there as a boy.[ A local ]Lutheran
Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...
mission, the Lutheran Church of Stonewall, was established in 1902 which Johnson attended.[
Albert, originally known as Martinsburg, was founded in the late 1870s by settlers from Fredericksburg, TX. The town was renamed May 24, 1892 when Wilhelmina Sophie “Minnie” Luckenbach opened a post office that she named for her husband, Carl Albert Luckenbach.
]
Population decline
Albert had 50 residents in 1925, only four in 1964, and 25 in 1972.[ By 1985, the store had been torn down, the school converted into a community club, and the dance hall into a storage locker; however, Albert still had 25 residents and two businesses.][ The population would stay at 25 through 2000;][ by 2007, the town had been all but abandoned.
]
Since 2004
In 2004, Bobby Cave, at the time an insurance broker, bought Albert—more specifically, property on Ranch Road 1623 between Stonewall and Blanco[Historic Texas Town for Sale Albert TX](_blank)
on eBay— for $216,000.[Owner lists small Hill Country town for sale](_blank)
a June 2007 article from the '' Fort Worth Star-Telegram'' Cave then built a tavern (in a style area locals call an icehouse) on the site of the town's former general store; after investing nearly half a million dollars,
See also
* Williams Creek School, Gillespie County, Texas
References
External links
Texas Music Office - Clubs, Dancehalls, Small Venues in TexasTown websiteHandbook of Texas article
{{Gillespie County, Texas
Former populated places in Gillespie County, Texas
EBay listings
Ghost towns in Central Texas
Populated places established in 1877
1877 establishments in Texas