About this tour
Industry holds a founding place in Texas history: it was the first German town in the state, settled by Friedrich Ernst, who arrived in 1831 and whose glowing letters home helped launch a wave of German immigration to Texas. In 2007 the Legislature formally recognized Industry as the oldest permanent German settlement in Texas. This short drive links the markers to Ernst himself and the town he founded, along with the old store, church, and bank that grew up around the settlement. It is a quiet place today, but it is the seed from which German Texas grew.