Dreyer, Texas: A Historical Overview of the Farming Community
Published: July 9, 2004
Dreyer (also known as Dryer) is a small farming community located on Farm Road 443 about fourteen miles southeast of Gonzales and near the DeWitt County border. The town was named after early settler Henry Dreyer, who had purchased property out of his father Anton Dreyer's original land grant near the Guadalupe River in southeast Gonzales County. Possibly sometime during the 1860s or later, Henry Dreyer constructed a sawmill on the Guadalupe and also built a series of tenant houses on his farm. On May 19, 1897, an application was made to open a post office for the village of Dryer. Charles G. Devot served as first postmaster until 1898 when John W. Wemken took over. Adolph Schulze, Jr., later worked as postmaster from 1903 until May 31, 1906, when the post office was discontinued. During the early 1900s Dreyer had a population of approximately 100 residents, and in 1904 the Dreyer family gave land for a school. Apparently a mercantile business also operated in the community, and an auto garage had opened by the mid-1920s. In 1925 citizens organized the Dryer Baptist Church. Gonzales County highway maps in 1936 showed numerous farms and dwellings, a church, and the Dreyer School in the area. By 1940 the town maintained a population of 100 and five businesses. The Baptist church closed sometime in the late 1940s, but the community reported a steady population of 100 through the 1960s. In 1970 the population had declined to 20 where it remained through 2000.
Bibliography:
Places:
The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry.
Laurie E. Jasinski, “Dreyer, TX,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed March 09, 2026, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/dreyer-tx.
Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
TID:
HND59
- July 9, 2004
