NOPAL, TEXAS (DeWitt County). Nopal is near the Gonzales county line fifteen miles north of Yorktown in northwest DeWitt County. In 1890 Emil Sasse opened a grocery at the locale, which became known as Sasseville; other stores followed. A German Evangelical Lutheran church was organized in 1895. The community had a gin, a blacksmith shop, two general stores, and a drugstore before 1902, when the Nopal post office was moved to the site from Gonzales County. This post office continued until about 1960. The children attended the Sandgate school two miles away until 1902, when Nopal built its own school. In 1925 this school was merged with the Clear Creek school. The estimated population of Nopal was 111 in 1904 and seventy-five from 1925 until the late 1960s, when twenty-five residents were reported. Twenty-five residents were still reported in 1985 through 2000.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Nellie Murphree, A History of DeWitt County (Victoria, Texas, 1962).

Nellie Murphree