Industry, Austin County
Christian Friedrich Ernst (Dirks) was born in Germany in 1796. Friedrich Ernst was inducted into the German army in 1814 and served for five years. He married Louise Gesine Auguste Weber in 1819. They became the parents of Caroline, John Friedrich, Ludwig, Wilhelmine, and Hermann Ernst. In 1829 the family sailed to the United States and settled in New York. In 1831 they came to Texas as part of Stephen F. Austin's second colony and are thought to be the first German family in Texas. Ernst received a land grant of 4,428 acres of land on Mill Creek in present day Industry where he grew produce and tobacco and was the first recorded European to manufacture cigars in Texas. Ernst became active in civic affairs in the area, serving as a Justice of the Peace and as a member of the commissioners court. He supported the establishment of Hermann's University and served on its first board of trustees. Ernst, who wrote a series of letters to German officials to encourage their citizens to move to America, was called the Father of German Immigration to Texas. Ernst died in 1848 and is remembered through this park located on land he once owned and a scholarship in his name. (1996)