Williamson County Historical Commission
contact Wayne Ware (512)
863-2202
COUPLAND,
TEXAS est. 1887
Population: 308 (2005)
St. Peter’s United Church of Christ, built in 1906. The town of Coupland, surrounded by fertile farming land, was a meeting place for Swedish, German, and Swiss farmers from the area.
Gift of Clara Stearns Scarbrough
Coupland's St. Peters United Church of Christ today
2006
click on thumbnail image for
an enlarged view
Coupland's St. Peters United Church of Christ
plaque
St. Peters United
Church of Christ - Historical Marker text
This congregation was organized in 1894 by German and Swiss immigrants,
Originally known as St. Petri Deutsche Evangelische Gemeinde (St. Peters
German Evangelical Church), the congregation built this vernacular
Gothic Revival sanctuary in 1905-1906. The meeting hall was added in
1925, and the two structures were connected in 1953. By 1955 English
Language services, introduced in 1929, had replaced the worship
originally conducted in German. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1989
view info on
St. Peter's United Church of Christ Cemetery
photos of Cemetery
The Coupland Civic Organization
Coupland's Building 2006
Coupland's Dance Hall & Tavern and Old Inn 2006
Coupland Buildings 2006
Coupland's Railway Museum 2006
Coupland's own Morgan C. Hamilton a Patriot of the
Republic of Texas
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an enlarged view
United States Senator Morgan C.
Hamilton -
Historical Marker text
(1809-93) An outstanding patriot who acted as
Secretary of War and Marine in Republic of Texas and later served the
state in many roles, Morgan Hamilton in 1837 obtained a 1009-acre land
grant in this area. While his brother A. J. Hamilton was governor
(1865-66), he retrieved for Texas some bonds sent to Europe during the
Civil War. In 1870-77 he served as a United States Senator from Texas.
His nephew Theodore Van Buren Coupland (1836-90) settled here and in
1887 founded town of Coupland on land that formerly belonged to Senator
Hamilton.
In Post Oak just south east from Coupland
Type Cemetery - Historical Marker text
The earliest Anglo settlers of this area came to
the vicinity in the 1840s. They called their community Post Oak Island
for an isolated oak grove between Bastrop and Circleville. Many of these
pioneers had moved on by the time Swedish and Danish immigrants arrived
in the 1890s. Swedish-born August Smith owned a store which straddled
the line between Bastrop and Williamson counties. Smith opened the Type
Post Office in that store in 1902, probably naming the community for the
printing machine owned by his friend Jonas Sunvision. The Type Cemetery
was established on land conveyed by Peder and Christine Nygaard when the
Swedish Free Mission
Church was founded in May 1908. The tombstones of
Anna Amalia Hansen (Hanson) (d. 1910) and Christina Fredrickson (d.
1915) are inscribed in Swedish, merely one indication of the strong
cultural identification of the early settlers with their homelands.
Burials before 1950 are primarily those of members of the Carlson,
Hanson, Nygaard, Nyman, and Swenson families. The small number of
Scandinavian burials in the cemetery after 1950 reflects the group's
assimilation into American culture and the dispersal of local young
people to cities. In 1954 the Swedish Free Mission Church merged with
Kimbro's Free Church. Of the 36 graves counted in 1998, eleven were
those of Swedish immigrants and fifteen were first or second generation
Scandinavian Texans. Several Mexican graves were located on the eastern
edge of the cemetery. The Yegua Creek Evangelical Free Church, which
relocated to this site in 1987, maintains the Type Cemetery. (1998)
 Mager Cemetery plaque on CR-1466 |
 Mager Cemetery on CR-1466 west of Coupland |
Coupland Brushy Creek old bridge
on
CR 456 off 1466, built 1912 - 100' long by 45 wide
for
more info
click on
Coupland ,Texas
by
The Handbook of Texas Online
also see www.texasescapes.com write up about Coupland, Texas
Pardon our dust - we're under construction and we will have more information forthcoming.