Answers to Go with Susan Smith
San Marcos Public Library 625 E. Hopkins St. 512-393-8200
Q.I drove down Highway 21 through Uhland and wondered about the origin of that name. What’s the story behind that name?
A. Let’s start with an article in “The New Handbook of Texas,” the six-volume work from the Texas State Historical Society.
The brief article begins: “Uhland, on Farm Road 21 eleven miles northeast of San Marcos on the Hays-Caldwell county line, developed in the 1890s on the site of the former Live Oak community.
“Uhland had a post office from 1892 to 1902, and the community's businessmen served the ranchers and cotton farmers around Plum Creek for more than half a century. By 1910 the community had a cotton gin and two stores, and in 1950 the census listed seven businesses and 140 residents.
“In 1970 Uhland recorded no businesses and a population of ninety. In 1990 the population was 368. The population was 386 in 2000.”
The Census currently lists the population of Uhland as 1,343 and gives the area as 2.4 square miles. This is not 2020 census information.
New census information needed for redistricting will be available on March 31, 2021. If the pattern of the past is repeated, detailed local information will appear later.
If you have not completed your household’s count for the 2020 census, we would be happy to help you with that. Just give us a call at 512-393-8200. We can enter your information on the Census website—www. my2020census.gov—while we have you on the telephone.
Let’s return to the origin of the town name. Americans who started new towns far from home often named their new settlement after the old town. I didn’t find any other places named Uhland in “The Columbia Gazetteer of the World.”
I finally had some luck in one of my favorite older reference books. “The Century Cyclopedia of Names” was published in 1954. According to this source, Ludwig Uhland (1787-1862) was a German poet, the most talented of the Swabian school. Some of his songs and ballads are among the most famous in German literature.
If you have lived in Central Texas long, you know that a number of German immigrants settled here. It certainly seems plausible that Uhland was named after a German poet.
