Name/Title
Weimar, South Side [Lithograph]Description
Lithograph of the south side of Weimar (misspelled Weiman") from the Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio Railway Company’s 1876 book “A Description of Western Texas” providing an extensively illustrated guide for prospective immigrants to western Texas.Context
Weimar was founded in 1873 in anticipation that the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway was going to build through the site. The community was first called Jackson, after D. W. Jackson, a native Georgian and area landowner who donated land for the railroad right-of-way and the townsite. The populace subsequently chose the name Weimar; an early record states that Thomas W. Peirce, who authorized Jackson to sell lots at the site, had visited Weimar, Germany, and was favorably impressed. The Weimar post office was established in 1873. The town was incorporated in 1875. After beginning with a few hundred townspeople, Weimar had by its tenth birthday achieved a population of over 1,000. As it grew Weimar established itself as a center of trade for pecans, poultry, and dairy products. By 1877 the town was large enough to make its first city map.