Bernardo is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in northeastern Colorado County, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. According to the

Handbook of Texas The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) is an American nonprofit educational and research organization dedicated to documenting the history of Texas. It was founded in Austin, Texas, United States, on March 2, 1897. In November 2008, the ...

, the community had a population of 155 in 2000.

History

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

immigrants arrived in Texas in 1845 as members of the

Adelsverein The ''Mainzer Adelsverein at Biebrich am Rhein'' (''Verein zum Schutze Deutscher Einwanderer in Texas''; "Society for the Protection of German Immigrants in Texas"), better known as the ''Mainzer Adelsverein'' (; "Nobility Society of Mainz"), orga ...

and were followed by other German immigrants. Instead of moving to the authorized colonization area, the Fisher-Miller land grant in west central Texas, where many German settlers had already established themselves, decided to stay where the frontier circumstances were less difficult. Because of the topography in the area, Bernardo was formerly known as Bernardo Prairie. It was formerly known as Braden, and among the first inhabitants were several families bearing that name. The community was situated near a major highway connecting

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

to inland towns and settlements. It functioned as a dumping ground for transporting

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. Nonetheless, it stayed an agricultural and ranching hamlet with sporadic houses and farms rather than growing into a sizable settlement. From 1898 until 1917, Bernardo had its own post office. Bernardo had a general store, a volunteer fire department, and 187 registered voters in its precinct in 1986. Even though individuals from Houston and the neighboring areas were buying land, some of the original settlers' descendants continued to reside in the area. The population was 155 in 1990. In 2000, the population did not change.

Geography

Bernardo is located at the intersection of Farm to Market Road 949 and Bernardo Road between

Interstate 10 Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost transcontinental highway in the Interstate Highway System of the United States. It is the fourth-longest Interstate in the country at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. It was part of the origina ...

and Cat Spring, northeast of Columbus in Colorado County. It is also on the south bank of the

San Bernard River The San Bernard River is a river in Texas. Course San Bernard River flows from a spring near New Ulm, Texas to its mouth on the Gulf of Mexico, some to the southeast of the source. It passes through portions of Austin, Brazoria, Colorado, ...

Education

A Catholic school by the Sisters of Divine Providence was in Bernardo as early as 1872. This school joined the Mentz Catholic School in 1911, then joined the Columbus Independent School District after a public school was built in the area.

Gallery

File:Bernardo TX Farm and Ranch Supply.jpg, Bernardo Farm & Ranch Supply store on FM 949 File:Bernardo TX New VFD.jpg, New Bernardo Volunteer Fire Department building File:Bernardo TX Sign.jpg, Looking southwest on FM 949

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Texas Unincorporated communities in Colorado County, Texas