Coletoville

COLETOVILLE, TEXAS . Coletoville is near Coleto Creek Reservoir ten miles west of Victoria in Victoria County. The site was known in its early days as Steiner's Settlement, after Carl Steiner, who arrived from Germany in 1850. It took its present name from Coleto Creek, which, with Dry Creek, marked the community's boundaries. The Coleto Creek valley communities are part of the large area of German settlement in Victoria, DeWitt, and Goliad counties, which also includes Schroeder (Germantown), Arneckeville, Meyersville, and Yorktown. Steiner's Settlement produced 2,000 gallons of wine from the local wild Mustang grapes in 1860 alone. The Old Goliad Road, which carried Victoria-Goliad traffic through Coletoville, contributed to the town's early growth. The community had a store, a school, and the Coleto Schuetzen Verein (shooting club), as well as a Gesangverein (singing club) established in 1854, a Lutheran church founded in 1872, and a post office established in 1875. Trustees paid four dollars for the two-acre church site, upon which they also established a community cemetery without burial restrictions regarding creed. Most early Coletoville settlers are buried there.