TELFERNER, TEXAS. Telferner, on U.S. Highway 59 and State Loop 175, eight miles northeast of Victoria in Victoria County, is named for Joseph Telfener,^qv an Italian count who was the president and one of the builders of the New York, Texas and Mexican Railway. The town was established as a station in 1882, when the railroad was completed from Victoria to Rosenberg. The station was located on John N. Keeran's^qv California Ranch, which had once belonged to the empresario Martín de León.^qv It had a hotel and a Wells Fargo office in 1892. From 1895, when the post office was established, to 1908 the community was called Jasmine. Telferner became the post office designation again in 1908, and by 1914 the population of 102 supported five stores, a gin, and a lumberyard. An oilfield was brought in at the site in 1938. Nevertheless, the population declined substantially until the 1970s; from 1985 to 1990 Telferner had 304 residents and a number of community organizations, businesses, and churches. The population increased to 700 in 2000. The Telferner school district was consolidated in 1958 with the Victoria Independent School District, and local elementary students attended school at Wood Hi.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Roy Grimes, ed., 300 Years in Victoria County (Victoria, Texas: Victoria Advocate, 1968; rpt., Austin: Nortex, 1985). John C. Rayburn, "Count Joseph Telfener and the New York, Texas, and Mexican Railway Company," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 68 (July 1964). The Victoria Sesquicentennial "Scrapbook" (Victoria, Texas: Victoria Advocate, 1974).

Craig H. Roell