Gillespie County, Texas

Gillespie County, Texas
The Gillespie County Courthouse in Fredericksburg
Location in the U.S. state of Texas
Texas's location in the U.S.
Founded	1848
Named for	Robert Addison Gillespie
Seat	Fredericksburg
Largest city	Fredericksburg
Area
• Total	1,062 sq mi (2,751 km2)
• Land	1,058 sq mi (2,740 km2)
• Water	3.5 sq mi (9 km2), 0.3%
Population
• (2010)	24,837
• Density	23/sq mi (9/km²)
Congressional district	21st
Time zone	Central: UTC-6/-5
Website	www.gillespiecounty.org

Gillespie County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, its population was 24,837. The county seat is Fredericksburg. It is located in the heart of the Texas Hill Country. Gillespie is named for Robert Addison Gillespie, a soldier in the Mexican-American War.

On December 15, 1847, a petition was submitted to create Gillespie County. In 1848, the legislature formed Gillespie County from Bexar and Travis Counties. While the signers were overwhelmingly German immigrants, names also on the petition were Castillo, Pena, Munos, and a handful of nonGerman Anglo names.

Gillespie County comprises the Fredericksburg, TX Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Early native inhabitants were the Tonkawa, Comanche, Kiowa, and Lipan Apache peoples. In 1842, the Adelsverein organized in Germany to promote emigration to Texas. The Fisher-Miller Land Grant set aside three million acres (12,000 km²) to settle 600 families and single men of German, Dutch, Swiss, Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian ancestry in Texas.Henry Francis Fisher sold his interest in the land grant to the Adelsverein in 1844.Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels secured the title to 1,265 acres (5.12 km²) of the Veramendi grant the next year, including the Comal Springs and River, for the Adelsverein. Thousands of German immigrants were stranded at port of disembarkation, Indianola, on Matagorda Bay. With no food or shelters, living in holes dug into the ground, an estimated 50% die from disease or starvation. The living began to walk to their destinations hundreds of miles away. About 200 German colonists, who walked from Indianola, founded the town of New Braunfels at the crossing of the San Antonio-Nacodoches Road on the Guadalupe River. John O. Meusebach arrived in Galveston. The first wagon train of 120 settlers arrived from New Braunfels. Surveyor Hermann Wilke laid out the town. Meusebach named it Fredericksburg, in honor of Prince Frederick of Prussia.