Knight's Ranch

New Sweden is on Farm Road 973 five miles northeast of Manor in northeastern Travis County. It was established in 1873 and was known then as Knight's Ranch; with the establishment of the New Sweden Lutheran Church in 1876, however, the community became known as New Sweden (sometimes spelled New Sweeden). A cotton gin began operation at New Sweden in 1882, and a post office opened in 1887. The community had two general stores and forty-two residents by the mid-1890s. By 1900 its population had increased to 104. The post office was discontinued in 1902, and mail for the community was sent to Manor. By the early 1930s the number of residents had fallen to twenty-five, but by the end of the decade the population was reported at sixty. New Sweden served as the focus of a common-school district until the early 1940s, when it and several other schools were consolidated to form the Manda school district. From the early 1960s through 1990 the population of New Sweden was reported at sixty.