Manda, TX
N 30° 24.129 W 097° 28.065
14R E 647190 N 3364343
Manda, TX was once an established town, but today, it has dwindled to the status of "rural community." Only its old school and the Manda Methodist Cemetery remain.
Waymark Code: WMNZDD
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 05/28/2015
Views: 4
A Texas Historical Marker stands near what was once the center of town:
Founded by Swedish immigrants in the 1880s, this community was named for Amanda Bengtson Gustafson, sister of the town's postmaster. By the 1890s Manda boasted homes, farms, a cotton gin, general store, and blacksmith shop. The Manda Swedish Methodist Congregation, organized in 1892, built a sanctuary in 1909 and was active until 1962. A Lutheran chapel was built in 1896. The Methodist cemetery serves as a reminder of the early settlement. In 1947 area schools combined to form the Manda School District. The school building now serves as a community center.
The Handbook of Texas Online complements the Texas Historical Marker: (
visit link)
Manda was four miles north of US Highway 290 and two miles east of Farm Road 973 in northeastern Travis County. The first settlers to arrive at the site were J. V. (Victor) Morell in 1885, John Sanders and Aaron Johnson in 1887, and Otto Bengston in 1888. Morell built a steam engine cotton gin in the area in 1886 and then moved his blacksmith shop there from New Sweden. In 1892 the Manda Methodist Church was organized. Subsequently, the New Sweden Lutheran Church also built a small chapel in the community. In 1893 Bengston built a large general store with a residence in the rear. The post office was established in the front part of the store building and named for his sister Amanda. By 1899 telephone lines were extended to Decker, Manda, and New Sweden. Manda later became a switch on the Texas and New Orleans Railroad. By 1900 its population had reached forty. In 1909 the Manda Methodist Church built a frame building with stained-glass windows and a tall bell tower. A forty-two-inch bell was ordered from the C.B. Bell Company of Hillsboro, Ohio, and was given to the church by the Walter Tips Hardware Company of Austin. The population declined by the 1930s to twenty. The church served the community until June 1962, when it was discontinued. The historic church bell is now on the grounds of the First Methodist Church in Elgin. The church cornerstone is in the Manda Methodist Cemetery. The children at Manda went to school at New Sweden, Carlson, and Willow Ranch. In 1947 the small surrounding school districts were consolidated, and the Manda Common School District was founded. It remained a school district until 1963, when the last record of Manda's population was still twenty. The school building still stood in Manda in 1989.