Bishop, Nueces County, Texas 1910 - 2010 One Hundred Years of South Texas Heritage!
[The following is adapted from a writing in 1985 by Dollie Belle Wolter for the then
upcoming Diamond Jubilee of Bishop.]
Otto Wolter, born in 1868 in Germany, lived and raised his family in Travis County,
Texas, where he was a prominent farmer. Early in 1910 he traveled to Nueces County,
anxious to extend his land holdings, and met F. Z. Bishop. Otto was known as a "good
trader" and recognized the fertile soil of Nueces County. In May 1910 he bought his first
acreage from Mr. Bishop, a part of Section 123 Bishop Subdivision.
Mr. Wolter became a land salesman for Mr. Bishop. He brought many prospective buyers
from the Central Texas area to invest in land near Bishop. Otto never lived in Bishop, but
he continued to increase his land purchases up to 1920 and was a frequest visitor to
Bishop to check on his tenants and to improve his farms. He died in Bishop in 1933 at
the age of 67, and was buried in Travis County.
In October 1927 Robert F. Wolter, son of Otto Wolter, married Dollie Belle Sundberg in
Austin, Texas. Robert and his bride of three weeks came to Bishop in November, 1927
to make their home and take up farming. They chartered a railroad car from Austin to
Bishop for eighty dollars, loading it with four mules, a few farm implements, some
cottonseed, a cedar chest, 2 barrels of wedding gifts and a record player. The railroad
car arrived in Bishop three days later with the mules loose in the car but without damage
to the household goods.
In 1928 the City of Bishop needed to construct a tall water tower. The large steel sheets
were pulled to the top of the tower by mules and held in place for riveting. The mules
being used would not hold, so Robert offered his team to do the job. They obeyed his
"hold" command, and he was paid thirty dollars for the 5-day job. This water tower was
replaced in 1960.
Robert F. Wolter, age 82 and now retired, lives in Bishop. He owned land and farmed
in Nueces County for over fifty years. He began his farming with four mules and two-row
equipment and has seen many changes in farming, both in equipment and crops. The
late twenties and the thirties were "hard times" for farmers. They tried to diversify by
raising chickens and selling eggs for as low as five cents per dozen. They built fences
and put cattle on the farmland and fed the cheap grain to the livestock. Along with his
farming, Robert went to work for the James G. McCarrick Vegetable Company.
The growing of commercial vegetables in Nueces County is now history but during the
period of 1929 to about 1950, thousands of acres of vegetables were grown. Robert
helped pioneer vegetable growing in this county. A vegetable shed was built and
operated in Bishop until about 1948. Crops grown were mainly radishes, onions, beets,
spinach, cabbage and carrots. They were known as "wet" vegetables, as they were
washed, crated and iced before shipping. Onions were a big crop in Nueces County,
with one hundred thirty-six cars shipped in 1944. In 1941, 521 cars of cabbage, 204
cars of beets, 200 cars of spinach and 33 cars of carrots were shipped out of Nueces
County. Robert served as a field foreman. The seed was delivered to the farmer, con-
tracted, then harvested. Many times 500 and more laborers would be at work in the field.
There were many trucks, each with its own crew.
In 1928, platform laborers were paid ten cents an hour and truckers were paid 15 cents
a bushel for harvest and delivery to the shed. Vegetable farming declined in the early
1950's because of competition from other parts of Texas having irrigation, along with
California and Florida. Farming of cotton and milo maize continued.
The Robert F. Wolters have been long-time members of St. John Lutheran Church in
Bishop and of the Nueces County Farm Bureau. In 1959 they made a trip to Europe
with the Farm Bureau group, referred to as the "Flying Farmers". Lyndon Johnson
arranged for a Dutch KLM airplane to land at the Corpus Christi Naval Air Station to
pick them up. This was the first time a foreign commercial aircraft was allowed to land
on an active U. S. military base.
Robert and Dollie Belle have one son, Robert Carl Wolter of Corpus Christi, Texas, an
attorney with Wood, Boykin, Wolter & Keys. Robert Carl married Frances Fitzhugh
Overton of Hutto, Texas in 1956. They have three children. Robert Patrick, graduate
of the University of Texas, is an Assistant District Attorney in Corpus Christi. Thomas
James, a graduate of Texas A & M University, resides in Bishop, has taken over the
farming operations, and is married to the former Carrie Elizabeth Frels of Bishop.
Jane Frances is a senior at the University of Texas.
~~Otto Wolter Family~~
)
[Lawrence W. Wolter has provided the following]
Otto and Ida Wolter had 7 children. When Otto purchased land in Bishop, TX, two of his sons, Lawrence A. Wolter and Robert
Wolter, became residents and farmers in Bishop.
In 1924 Lawrence Augusta Wolter and Emma Kasper Wolter moved their family to Bishop and farmed a 320 acre tract of land
one mile south of the city bought by Otto Wolter. L.A. Wolter and Emma along with children, Lawrence William Otto Wolter,
age 4 and Eugene Robert Wolter, age 2, lived in a farm house with no running water or electricity. Candles and oil lamps
provided light and the restroom consisted of an outhouse...a “johnny”. In 1926 a third child was born, a daughter, Emily
Augusta Wolter. The farm was run with 8 mules and one-row equipment. The family raised their own food by growing their
food in the garden, raising chickens, pigs, cattle, and 10 milk cows. The family traded their milk, eggs, and chicken for other
items they might need. Eggs were 5 cents a dozen and milk was 25 cents a quart. Life became a little easier in 1929 when the
family purchased a Farmall tractor and two-row equipment.
Eventually in 1930, the family built a “modernized” home which is still sits on the family land. In 1936 electricity made its way
through rural Bishop. The family had electrical lighting and a refrigerator, and more importantly an indoor restroom. Chores
were divided between the children. The children would milk cows before school and then walk one mile into town for school.
They also had to help Emma in the kitchen. While Emma cooked, Emily would wash dishes, Lawrence would dry, and Eugene
would put the dishes away. Allowance at that time ran about 25 cents a week. That meant going to town on the weekends to
watch a “picture show” at one of the two theaters in town. Admission was 10 cents and candy and ice cream was about 15
cents. Along with the 2 theaters in Bishop, there were 2 drug stores, 4 grocery stores, 1 meat market, 1 hardware store, 2
clothing stores, and 2 doctors.
In 1926 L.A. Wolter and a couple of other Bishop families built the St. John Lutheran Church on the west side of Bishop. The
small church had no more than twenty pews and was merely a four wall room. In the early 1940’s the church family purchased
the land that the current St. John Lutheran Church is built on. The Wolter family along with several other church families
actually built the current Education Building at St. John’s. The main church building followed. During that time, Pastor Weber
was paid $50 a month.
The American Legion Post 185 was also a big part of the Wolter family. Lawrence and several other World War II veterans
built this organization from the ground up. In 1959 the Bishop Post received its charter and in the early 1960’s the American
Legion was built. Lawrence served as the building manager. Wolter along with a group of Bishop veterans donated their own
money and ran the club like a business. The Legion held dances, bingo, and private parties to raise money in order to
purchase the land. Today the American Legion is still a part of the Bishop Community. Lawrence is still an active member and
focuses on helping fellow veterans, local needy families, and supporting youth programs such as Boys State, American Legion
Oratorical Contest, and American Legion college scholarships for Bishop High School graduates.
The Wolter family continues to farm the original land purchased back in 1924 and through the years have own and farmed in
several areas of Bishop. The family occupied the 1930’s home until L.A. Wolter passed in 1980 at the age of 92 and Emma
passed at the age 102 in 1999. The family loved their home in Bishop and believed that God blessed them with His love and
guidance.
Family Tree ~ Bishop Residents
1st Generation: Otto and Ida Wolter
2nd Generation: Lawrence A. (Emma Kasper) Wolter and Robert (Dollie Bell) Wolter
3rd and 4th Generation:
1. Lawrence W. (LaVerne Valenta) Wolter’s children:
Dale, Judy, Nancy, and Elaine.
*Lawrence and Dale still own land and farm a portion of the original Wolter farm.
2. Eugene Robert (Mary Hutto) Wolter’s children:
Jeanie, Bobby, Hardie, Danny, Cindy, and Frances
*Hardie still farms a portion of the original Wolter farm.
3. Emily (Augusta Wolter) and Gene Hutchins
Copyright © 2009-2010 Bishop Centennial Celebration, Inc. All rights reserved. Updated April 24, 2010
