Cedar Hill, TX (Washington County)

Cedar Hill was on Tommelson Creek in northwestern Washington County. Henry Eichholt, the first German settler of Washington County, farmed near Cedar Hill before the Civil War. During the war the Eichholt brothers' gristmill served Confederate soldiers and civilians. Cedar Hill's population, predominantly German immigrants and their descendants, was a center of Republican strength in Washington County during the 1880s. In 1883 the community was the site of tumultuous Republican meetings attended by Blacks and Germans. Cedar Hill flourished from the 1880s through the early twentieth century. In 1896 it had its own German Baptist church, a public school, and baseball and horse clubs. The Eichholt gristmill still operated in 1896, and Cedar Hill was the site of an annual April Children's Fest. Cedar Hill's prosperity was based on agriculture. The settlement declined rapidly when nearby William Penn began to grow. Three cemeteries are all that marked Cedar Hill's location in 1988.