Albert, Texas facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Albert, Texas
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Albert Ice House & Dance Hall
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 Albert, Texas
Location in Texas
Albert, Texas
Location in the United States
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| Country | United States |
| State | Texas |
| County | Gillespie |
| Elevation | 1,476 ft (450 m) |
| Population
(2015)
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| • Total | 7 |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (Central (CST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
| Area code(s) | 830 |
| FIPS code | 48-01660 |
| GNIS feature ID | 1377922 |
Albert, originally called Martinsburg, is a ghost town in Gillespie County, Texas, United States. A ghost town is a place where most people have left, and it's mostly empty. Albert is about 16 miles (26 km) southeast of Fredericksburg. It's also about 1 mile (1.6 km) west of the Blanco County line.
Albert used to be a stop for stagecoaches traveling between Fredericksburg and Blanco. In 1967, it became a stop on the President's Ranch Trail. This trail is a special route connected to former President Lyndon B. Johnson. In late 2007, the whole town was even put up for sale on the auction website eBay.
How Albert Started
On December 15, 1847, people asked to create Gillespie County. In 1848, the Texas government formed Gillespie County. It was made from parts of Bexar and Travis counties. Most people who signed the request were German immigrants.
The first white settlers in the area were George Cauley, Ben White, Sr., and a man named Jacobs. Around 1877, a blacksmith named Fritz Wilke moved there. George Maenius and John Petri also moved from Fredericksburg. They were looking for pasture land for their cattle.
New Name and Post Office
The town's first post office was called Martinsburg. It operated from 1877 to 1886. In 1892, Martinsburg got a new post office. It also got a new name: Albert. This happened after Albert Luckenbach sold his store in Luckenbach. He then came to register the new post office in town. He named it Albert after himself.
A school was built in Albert in 1891. In 1897, the postmaster, Otto Schumann, opened the town's first store. A new school building was put up in 1900. Lyndon Baines Johnson, who later became the 36th President of the United States, briefly went to school there as a boy. A local Lutheran church, the Lutheran Church of Stonewall, was started in 1902. Johnson also attended this church.
Why Albert Became a Ghost Town
Albert once had 50 people living there in 1925. But by 1964, only four people lived in the town. In 1972, the population grew a little to 25 residents.
By 1985, the old store had been taken down. The school building was changed into a community club. The dance hall became a storage building. Even with these changes, Albert still had 25 residents and two businesses. The population stayed at 25 until the year 2000. However, by 2007, almost everyone had left, and the town was mostly abandoned.
Albert Today
In 2004, a man named Bobby Cave bought Albert. He bought property on Ranch Road 1623. This road is between Stonewall and Blanco. Cave then built a tavern on the spot where the old general store used to be. People in the area call this type of building an icehouse.
After spending a lot of money, Cave put the town up for sale on eBay in 2007. He asked for $2.5 million. In 2009, the town was divided into smaller pieces and sold again. This time, the asking price was $883,000.
A part of the town, about 12 acres (4.9 hectares), was bought by the Easley family from Austin, Texas. Brandon Easley was chosen by his family to manage the town. He has made several improvements to what is now called the Albert Ice House & Dance Hall.
