Elk, TX - German-American Heritage Sites on Waymarking.com

Approved in 1999, the historical marker reads:

The first permanent settlers of this area were Martin and Elizabeth McConnel Harper, who arrived from Tennessee with their five children in 1855. Others who settled with the Harpers were Scots-Irish from the American South. The Harper family erected a log cabin, a schoolhouse, and outbuildings on their 160-acre farm. The community acquired the name Harper's School House, and the school also was used for religious activities and local elections. The Harper Cemetery was established by Martin and Elizabeth's son, Moses, in 1861. Lucy Morrow, whose burial was the first recorded in the cemetery, died that year.

Czech and German immigrants began settling in the community about 1885. The Elk cotton gin, one of the major businesses in the area, was opened in 1890 by J.W. Mansfield and S.D. McWhorter. Mertie Emma McKinley applied for the establishment of a post office in the community in 1894. Because the name Harper's School House was rejected, Mrs. McKinley chose the name Elk. At that time the community population was 150, and the number served by the post office was 500.

At various times, Elk has boasted a Catholic church, barber shop, blacksmith, doctors' offices, gristmill, livery stable, a meat market, a beer hall, cafe, fraternal lodges, several stores, and a service station, telephone exchange, and waterworks. St. Joseph's Catholic Church, established in 1925, remains at the heart of the community, which is surrounded by farmland and houses in the predominantly Czech and German Elk community.

The Handbook of Texas Online (see link) provides some complementary information:

Elk, between U.S. Highway 84 and Farm Road 2957 four miles southeast of Axtell in eastern McLennan County, was formed in the 1880s, mainly by settlers of Czech and German descent. An Elk post office was established in July 1894 with Martie Emma McKinley as postmistress. Elk had a general store in 1896 and a population of eighteen in 1900. Its post office was discontinued in 1906, and mail for the community was rerouted through Axtell. By the 1920s Elk had seventy-five residents, a cotton gin, two churches, a saloon, and a school. Its population fell to thirty-eight in the early 1930s but rose again to seventy-five by the end of the decade. A church, a few businesses, and several houses represented the community on county highway maps in the 1940s. The Elk common-school district was consolidated with the Axtell high school district in 1955. A church and a gas station were all that remained at Elk in the early 1980s. In 2000, however, the population reached 150.

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