Frenstat 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 ...

Burleson County Burleson County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 17,642. Its county seat is Caldwell. The county is named for Edward Burleson, a general and statesman of the Texas Revolution. B ...

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 within the Bryan-College Station metropolitan area.

Geography

Frenstat is situated 15 miles north of Burton, nine miles south of the county seat,

Caldwell Caldwell may refer to: People * Caldwell (surname) * Caldwell (given name) * Caldwell First Nation, a federally recognized First Nation in southern Ontario, Canada Places Great Britain * Caldwell, Derbyshire, a hamlet * Caldwell, Ea ...

, 17 miles south of

Carmine Carmine ()also called cochineal (when it is extracted from the Cochineal, cochineal insect), cochineal extract, crimson Lake pigment, lake, or carmine lake is a pigment of a bright-red color obtained from the aluminium coordination complex, compl ...

, and 25 miles southwest from College Station. It is on Farm to Market Road 2774 on Big Creek, northwest of

Somerville Somerville may refer to: Places Australia *Somerville, Victoria, a town **Somerville railway station * Somerville, Western Australia, a suburb of Kalgoorlie, Australia New Zealand * Somerville, New Zealand, a suburb of Manukau City, New Zea ...

History

The area around Frenstat was first settled in the mid-1830s. The community was founded in 1884 by

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

immigrants from

Moravia Moravia ( ; ) is a historical region in the eastern Czech Republic, roughly encompassing its territory within the Danube River's drainage basin. It is one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The medieval and early ...

. The town was named Frenstat, after

Frenštát pod Radhoštěm Frenštát pod Radhoštěm (; ) is a town in Nový Jičín District in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 11,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument z ...

, an area which many of the settlers emigrated from. There were about 40 Czech families in the area in 1886, some of which had moved there from

. A post office existed between 1891 and 1908, and a general store and cotton gin was located in the town in the late 1800s. In 1889, settlers constructed the Holy Rosary Catholic Church, which still stands today. It is on land erected by Adolph Polansky and is the first Catholic Church in the county. Population estimates in 1892 and the 1940s reported that the population was 25. There were an estimated 85 Czech families in the area in 1931. By the late 1900s, only a few farms, a recreation center, and a church comprised the community.

Education

Frenstat's first school was erected on land donated by Polansky between 1886 and 1889. It became a part of Somerville ISD in 1948. Public education for Frenstat is provided by Somerville Independent School District.

References

{{authority control Czech-American culture in Texas Unincorporated communities in Burleson County, Texas Unincorporated communities in Texas Bryan–College Station