DeWitt County, Texas
Yorktown is home to 13 official Texas Historical Commission markers — each one telling a piece of the city’s story. Browse the markers below, then find them on the map and discover more nearby with RoadHistorical.
Created March 24, 1846 from Gonzales, Victoria and Goliad counties; organized July 13, 1846, with Cameron as the county seat. Named in honor of Green De Witt, a Texas Empresario born in Kentucky February 12, 1787. Died…
View on map ↗A member of one of Austin's ranging companies at San Felipe in 1829. Commanded A Company at the capture of San Antonio in 1835. Yorktown, named in his honor was laid out in 1848 on his land. Born July 4, 1800. Killed by…
View on map ↗Co. G, 16th Illinois Cavalry from Apr. 1, 1863 to Aug. 15, 1865. Enlisted as private in Springfield, Ill., after crossing Confederate lines by walking, stagecoach and steamboat. Like many Texas Germans, he felt U.S.…
View on map ↗Erected 1876. Had iron shutters, elevator, walls 25 inches thick. Housed general mercantile store begun by pioneer Caesar Eckhardt family in 1848, soon after founding of Yorktown. Wagons brought in goods from seaport of…
View on map ↗John York (1800 - 1848) -- Charles Eckhardt (1813 - 1852) Soldiers and builders of Texas. York, born in Kentucky, came to Texas in 1821; was a captain in siege which expelled Mexican Army from Bexar, 1835. Gave site for…
View on map ↗Founded 1848 as way station on old Indianola Trail. Chartered August 2, 1854. Incorporated 1871. San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad reached here 1886. Town's first school organized 1853. Prospered as center of…
View on map ↗Robert Christian Eckhardt (1836-87) came from Germany at 13 to join an uncle, Yorktown's co-founder. A merchant and father of 11 sons and daughters, he built this house in 1879, afterward commuting to his store.…
View on map ↗The small farming community of Shiloh began about 1847 with settlement by the McBride, Hamilton, McFarland, Odom, Anderson, and Woods families. In 1851 John Keith Rankin helped organize a Methodist Episcopal Church,…
View on map ↗Among the many European immigrants arriving in Texas in the mid-19th century was a small group of Lithuanians who settled in the Yorktown vicinity of DeWitt County. Due to their eventual assimilation with the numerous…
View on map ↗In 1867, Anton (1815-1889) and Lucyia (1830-1912) Koszielsky deeded land to the Roman Catholic Church for a graveyard to serve the parishioners of the growing Catholic community of Yorktown. In 1916, Jesse H.…
View on map ↗Holy Cross Catholic Church This church was established by Polish families who first came to Texas in the 1850s and settled in Panna Maria, then migrated to this area. A group of Polish Catholics split from the primarily…
View on map ↗Upper Yorktown Cemetery In 1872, Ann Friar (1802-1899) formally established Upper Yorktown (Friar) Cemetery, where her husband, rancher-businessman Daniel Boone Friar (1800-1858), local masons and others were interred.…
View on map ↗7 to 8 miles northwest on Gruenau Road off Highway 108
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