Cistern 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 southwestern Fayette County,

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 ...

, United States. It is located on

Texas State Highway 95 State Highway 95 (SH 95) is a state highway which connects the cities of Yoakum and Temple in the U.S. state of Texas. Route description The southern terminus of SH 95 is in Lavaca County at US 77 Alt. along the northern edge of ...

, northwest of Flatonia. It was formerly known as Whiteside's Prairie and Cockrill's Hill. Cistern had a population of 75 as of the 2000

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

History

Cistern is on a hill surrounded by much flatter

prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

land.''An Early History Of Cistern'' An Essay by Juanita Y. Beck - July 1980 Originally, it was the portion of a

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of land granted to John J. Whiteside by the government of

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 ...

in 1835 which early settlers called "Whiteside's Prairie". Stark S. Cockrill, who came from Missouri in 1852, was the first settler at the hill where he built a general merchandise store. Other settlers followed soon after and the town was surveyed and platted into blocks. At that point, the developing town was known as "Cockrill's Hill" and remained so until 1857, when the townspeople applied for a post office permit and changed the name of the town to "Milton" (the name of Cockrill's son). The application for that name was denied. After deliberation, the citizens decided to name the town "Cistern", because the water wells in the area had high mineral concentrations requiring that they use

cistern A cistern (; , ; ) is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. To prevent leakage, the interior of the cistern is often lined with hydraulic plaster. Cisterns are disti ...

s for potable water. It is said that the townspeople went to the large cistern at the mercantile store so often that the most common answer given when they were asked where they were going was "to the cistern". The Cistern post office opened in March 1858, and the town has been known by that name ever since. In 1900, Cistern had 150 residents and a general merchandise store, a drugstore and saloon, a blacksmith shop with a gin, and a doctor. In 1950 Cistern had 150 people, two stores, two garages. The Cistern Post Office was discontinued in December, 1953, after which Cistern residents received mail from Flatonia. In the 1950s and 1960s, cotton became less popular as a crop, and more landowners turned to ranching and producing chickens. Some oilfields were discovered in the 1950s and 1960s, and a number of wells were drilled, although most were eventually plugged, with the land turned back into pasture. In the 1980s, Cistern had 75 residents and three businesses. In both the 1990 and 2000

censuses A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given population, usually displayed in the form of statistics. This term is used ...

, the community had 75 residents.

Culture

Cistern has

Anglo-American Anglo-American can refer to: * the Anglosphere (the Anglo-American world) * Anglo-American, something of, from, or related to Anglo-America ** the Anglo-Americans demographic group in Anglo-America * Anglo American plc Anglo American plc is a ...

Czech American Czech Americans (), known in the 19th and early 20th century as Bohemian Americans, are citizens of the United States whose ancestry is wholly or partly originate from the Czech lands, a term which refers to the majority of the traditional l ...

, and

German-American German Americans (, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. According to the United States Census Bureau's figures from 2022, German Americans make up roughly 41 million people in the US, which is approximately 12% of the pop ...

residents. The community is focused on Catholic and Lutheran churches, the Harmony Club, fraternal organizations, and the local school.

Education

Cistern is within the Flatonia Independent School District. During some points in its history, Cistern had its own school. In 1950, Cistern had a consolidated high school with two teachers.

References

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