Muenster History

Muenster, Texas is a community situated in North Central Texas. In 1877, August and Caroline Pulte, German-Catholics, moved to Cooke County and played a key role in attracting further settlement. In February 1889, August wrote a series of letters to the St. Louis–based German periodical Amerika, noting the suitability of land in the region. These letters brought the area to the attention of Emil Flusche, who, along with his brothers Anton and August, became the founding force behind the establishment of Muenster.

The Flusches had prior experience establishing communities, having founded settlements in Iowa and Kansas before arriving in Texas. As German immigrants and devout Catholics, they made a deliberate effort to attract other German-Catholics to their communities, a practice they continued with the founding of Muenster.

The Flusches decided to establish their community along the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas (MK&T) Railroad. The railroad was built through the area in 1887, and the town site was established in 1889. While the railroad no longer runs through the city, it played an important role in Muenster’s early years. Passenger service ended in 1959, and in 1968, MK&T abandoned a ninety-mile section of track that included the line through Muenster.

On December 8, 1889, the first Catholic Mass was celebrated in Muenster. Father Henry Brickley of Gainesville served as the celebrant, while twenty-five men, seven women, and six children gathered at the Flusche land office, which served as a temporary church. Although settlement in the area began before the town’s first religious services, community members commemorate this Mass as the official date of Muenster’s founding.

The discovery of oil in the area during the 1920s brought economic growth and an influx of new residents to the community. To accommodate this growth, Muenster became a legally incorporated city in 1927.

Residents preserve their German heritage through festivals, cuisine, architecture, and family surnames. Since 1976, an annual Germanfest has been held during the last full weekend in April, and an Oktoberfest is also celebrated. Local stores such as Fischer’s Meat Market and Bayer’s Kolonialwaren sell a variety of German-inspired sausages and strudels. Throughout town, several buildings feature Germanesque architecture, and a look through a Muenster phonebook quickly reveals German surnames such as Henscheid, Walterscheid, Hesse, and Felderhoff.

At present, Muenster’s population is approximately 1,600 people, most of whom are descendants of the original German-Catholics who settled the community in the late nineteenth century.