Industry: Ernst Store

Small stone building with narrative sign about Industry’s post office

Ernst Store (Darrlpearson CC BY-SA 4.0)

Sign affixed to stone building saying First post office west of Galveston built 1838 by Freidrich Ernst

Sign on Ernst Store (Darrlpearson CC BY-SA 4.0)

Portrait of Louise Ernst Stoehr

Louise Ernst Stoehr, ca. 1880s (UTSA Special Collections Library)

Large white building with sign saying City of Industry. Building was formerly a cotton gin, now city hall

Built in 1929, Industry’s city hall was formerly a cotton gin.

White wood framed church

Industry Methodist Church, dedicated 1867.

White wood framed house surrounded by a white picket fence

Lindemann-Ott House, ca. 1870

White, wood framed building named Welcome Hall and several outbuildings

Welcome Hall, built in 1899, and moved from the nearby town of Welcome in 1986.

In 2007, the Texas Legislature declared Industry is the state’s oldest permanent German Settlement – dating to 1831. A drive around town is probably the best way to see the sites of Friedrich Ernst’s settlement. Begin at Ernst Memorial Park to get a glimpse of the 1838 post office. The town's West End is home to the 1867 Industry Methodist Church, along with several houses and offices dating to the mid-1800s. 

Ernst Store

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