Hillje

Hillje is on State Highway 59 and Farm Road 441, eighteen miles west of Wharton in western Wharton County. It was named for Fred Hillje, who with his partners bought part of the West Ranch in 1888 and brought in German and Czech settlers from Weimar in Colorado County. A siding on the New York, Texas and Mexican Railway, called the Forty-five Mile Post, became the center of the colony. A Hillje school was opened in 1895. In 1898 L. C. Wychopen opened a general store. In 1899 the community was badly damaged by a flood. A post office operated there from 1899 until 1907. Hillje reported a population of twenty in 1915. In 1926 the town had a gin and general store, and the two Adams-Hillje schools had a total of 155 White and fourteen Black pupils and four teachers. The Wharton County Poll Tax Roll for 1927 lists forty individuals registered for Hillje. Of these, six were women; one man gave his occupation as a mechanic, the rest of the men gave their occupation as farmer. All were White residents. In 1931 the community had five businesses; state highway maps in 1936 showed a factory, several businesses, a school, two churches, and a cemetery. From 1939 to 1965 the town had a population of seventy-five, but by 1968 it had fifty-one residents and no businesses. State highway maps in 1985 showed five businesses, a church, and community hall at the townsite. The population remained at fifty-one in 2000.