Alsdorf
Alsdorf was on a spur off State Highway 34 five miles northeast of Ennis
in east central Ellis County. It is located midway between Sand Lake
and Crisp near the Kaufman County line. The catalyst for settlement was the
arrival of the Texas and New Orleans Railroad in the 1880s. The town
was named Faulkner after Alsdorf Faulkner, general passenger agent for the
railroad. Faulkner's home was an early social center. The name Alsdorf
was adopted in 1895 when the settlement received a post office. By
1900 Alsdorf had a general store and a frame church and school building.
In addition two cotton gins and the tracks of the Texas and New Orleans
Railroad combined to make the town a shipping point for local cotton.
Alsdorf's population never exceeded 100. In 1920, the post office
closed. In 1933, the community had an estimated seventy-five residents
and two businesses. By 1949, the last year for which figures are available,
the population had declined to fifty.
There are still a number of families living in the small community, and
an Afro-American Cemetery is located in the center of a private field, but
few, if any, stones are left.
References:
"ALSDORF, TX" The Handbook of Texas
Online
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