Welden Switch

Nordheim, seven miles west of Yorktown near the Karnes county line in western DeWitt County, is a German community that was established in 1895 as a siding, known as Weldon Switch, on the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway. The track was built past Pilot Knob, a 447-foot hill, the highest point on the railroad line between Waco, Houston, and San Antonio. This landmark had long served as a lookout and guidepost for Indians and pioneers. Among the locale's earliest settlers were Henry Meyer, A. F. Dahlmann, and George Freude. Much of the area was owned after 1880 by H. Runge and Company of Cuero, which, through the efforts of W. H. Leckie, Simon Kiening, and Herman Fehr, laid out a townsite; the first town block was sold in 1895 to Henry Schlosser, Jr., who opened a store and became first postmaster in 1896. The next year the railroad accepted a suggestion by William Frobese, president of Runge and Company, that the community's name be changed to Nordheim, after Frobese's hometown in Germany.

Adapted from the official Handbook of Texas, a state encyclopedia developed by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). It is an authoritative source of trusted historical records.