Small towns, all across the United States slowly lose their status as a town when the agrarian work in the area diminishes and the local people conduct their business in larger nearby towns. One fades away, and the other prospers. What is often lost is the history of the fading town and even the loss of structures that tell the historical story of the area. Structures are lost for three reasons: If they remain viable, taxation kills them, mother nature is always at work to reduce them to rubble, and people often requisition the materials of construction to build other structures.
Ammansville, Texas is a prime example of a small town in the process of disappearing for decades.
Ammansville is located on Farm Road 1383 in southeastern Fayette County in an area known for its painted churches. Painted churches are a hallmark of the Czech Catholics who built beautiful wooden churches and decorated them elaborately.
The town was settled in the 1870s by German and Czech immigrants who found that this area of Texas was much like their homeland in soil, weather, and terrain. The first of these settlers was Andrew Amman who arrived in 1870.
In 1876 the first business opened and by 1879 the town had a post office and a public school. The Catholic church and church school were opened in 1890.
By 1900, the town had three stores and saloons, two blacksmith shops, one drugstore, one physician, and two cotton gins.
By the early 1900s decline began to set in. The US Post Office closed, with mail being delivered from nearby Weimar. Then the public school closed and one by one, the businesses disappeared or moved to the larger commercial centers like Weimar of Schulenberg.
In 1914, the population of the extended area was 800 with about 100 living in the town. this was probably the peak population, for by the 1980s fewer than 50 people lived in the town. By the time of 2000, fewer than 50 people called Ammansville home, there are essentially no businesses, and the center of social life is the Catholic church.
Today, there are well-maintained farms in the wide area, but little remains of the structures of the past.
For more details on the history of Ammansville, written by Carolyn Heinsohn, go to Ammannsville, Texas (fayettecountyhistory.org)
p.s. The annual church picnic is the place to find good food.
