Seeliger Brothers General Merchandise [Cabinet Card]
Name/Title
Seeliger Brothers General Merchandise [Cabinet Card]Description
Circa 1900 cabinet card of the Seeliger Bros General Merchandise store in Niederwald, Texas. Store on right has “NIEDERWALD / H. A. BURNS / GENERAL MERCHANDISE” on top with new signage below, “SEELIGER BROS / GENERAL MERCHANDISE.” Two buggies are parked out front. Several other buildings can be seen towards the left and appear to be businesses as well. One of the Seeligers owned a saloon, but signage is not visible for the other buildings. The 1900 census for Hays and Caldwell counties show that brothers H. P. and Ewald Seeliger were merchants.Context
Niederwald, fifteen miles northeast of San Marcos in eastern Hays County, was founded by German pioneers after the Civil War. The name, which means "brushwood," referred to a growth of mesquite in the shallow valley where the Germans settled alongside the old Austin–San Antonio road. Niederwald had one of the original public schools in the county, New Hope (1877), and between 1902 and 1904, a post office. A church was established in 1906 and served the community at least through the 1940s. From about 100 in 1930 the population slowly declined, to less than eighty by 1970. Though in the early 1950s Niederwald had several cooperatives–including a community building, a general store, a credit union, a gin, and a newspaper-the town did not report any rated businesses from the early 1960s through 1990. In 1990 Niederwald was an incorporated community with 233 residents and the town had spread into Caldwell County. The population was 584 in 2000.Category
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