Title: How German Immigrants Shaped Texas | Texas Heritage for Living
Headings: How German Immigrants Shaped Texas
How German Immigrants Shaped Texas
An Ambassador for German Texas
Chain Migration
The German Belt
A Disappearing Culture

Content: In fact, German butchers even contributed to the establishment of Texas barbecue. A Disappearing Culture
By 1900, German culture in Texas was pronounced and proud. There were German language schools and newspapers in many Texas towns. But in the 20th century, this unique cultural world would begin to fade. Depopulation, intermarriage, and innovations in transportation and communications led to the slow dilution of German communities. Two world wars waged between the United States and Germany contributed to increased prejudice against Germans and the disuse of the German language. By the 1950s, many of the German towns and German urban neighborhoods, such as San Antonio’s King William Street, had lost much of their original German residents. But elements of German culture remain in Texas. There are still traditions throughout the state, such as annual Oktoberfest festivals and the Easter Fire in Fredericksburg, that continue the Old World traditions brought to Texas by the Germans. In the 21st century, not so long ago, a German linguistic professor visiting Fredericksburg overheard a conversation at a breakfast diner one morning in a language he recognized as both distinctively German and curiously incomprehensible.