Elroy

Elroy

(Severin)

Biographies Alf. L. Scott and T. J. Westerberg

Elroy is one of the youngest communties in central Texas, and it is located about 18 miles south of Austin. It was previously known as Driscoll, named after the man who owned the land before the Swedes settled there. It was changed to Elroy when a post-office was established there.

Elroy was colonized by Texas-Swedes who moved there from older Swedish colonies. The settlement was begun by R. E. Stromberg from Austin who was in charge of the first colonization and bought land there himself, probably in 1890. The first to buy land there were A. Molund, Olof Palmquist and William Palmquist. Around the same time Anderson & Marcuse bought a large tract of land.

Colonization which had received a good start, slowed down almost to a stand still as they could not get clear title to the land. George Hume from Austin, the new land owner created an upswing for the colony. Mr Hume’s friendly and liberal attitude towards the settlers made him generally liked, and you can still find pictures of him on the wall of almost every home.

John Magnuson, who in 1892 was the first Swede who moved there and leased land that Anderson & Marcuse had bought and built the first farm house on.

In 1893 Andrew Johnson moved there and was the second pioneer to settle there. Johnson who was a bachelor and had to carry the burdens of a settler by himself, cheerfully started clearing land and he is now one of Elroy’s most successful farmers. At the same time John Hakanson bought land and settled in Elroy where he lived and died and where his family still lives. Another person who bought land here was Olaus Nelson from Decker. Mr. Nelson never moved to Elroy but left his land to be farmed by his sons. Settlement progressed quickly after the first years, and the colony now has 70 families.

A store and cotton-gin were started by the brothers, John and Aug. Lundell. In 1909, the store was taken over by the brothers, Walter and Andrew Hakanson, and the store has continued under the name “Hokanson Brothers.” Elroy now has four fine cotton-gins, two stores, three churches, a Lutheran, a Baptist and a Free Church, and a good school.

A Swedish gin-company was started in 1916 under the name “The Swedish Farmers’ Gin Company,” with E. T. Nelson as president, Emil Wissen as secretary and A. K. Nelson as treasurer. Even though this is a young colony, the first settlers faced many hardships. Long, unpaved roads to the cities, bad transport and water shortages, a problem that still has to be solved, and water still has to be transported for 9-10 miles. The fertile land however makes up for this problem, and Elroy is now one of Texas’ most florishing Swedish communities.

Extracted from: Swedes In Texas In Words and Pictures,

English Translation, 1838 - 1918