Rev. Gotthilf Birkmann, who served as pastor at Holy Trinity in Fedor from 1876-1879 and 1882-1922, submitted the linked article (link at the bottom of this post) to the Giddings Deutsches Volksblatt in 1934. In it, he describes a trip he took to Copperas Cove in 1892 to visit his brother-in-law, Johann Falke. This was about two years before Immanuel in Copperas Cove (pictured) was established.
Google Maps tells me this journey would take about two hours today. It took Rev. Birkmann about three days (about the time it would take me to drive from Hutto to my parents’ home near Raleigh, North Carolina today), and his description of the road conditions is enlightening.
One reason that folks started moving out to Copperas Cove was that malaria wasn’t an issue out that way.
This was less than one hundred and thirty years ago. In the scheme of things, not that long ago!