Swedish Hill Postcard Exchange Traditional Cache

This cache has been archived.

Shanti and Trey: I have reworked this cache into Swede Hill Postcard Exchange, GCPCW3, into a multi cache. Thanks. Shanti

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Hidden : 2/16/2005
Difficulty:
1 out of 5
Terrain:
1 out of 5

Size: Size: regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:

This is just off IH35 and yet so peaceful. You can park on the street and walk a short distance to the cache.

Welcome to the Swede Hill Postcard Exchange cache. I chose this place for the weary traveler to take a moment to park, grab a cache, and relax on a nearby bench. There is quite a stack of postcards to select from, so bring a really nice one for trade. No Free cards, or other promo postcards please. If you don’t want to trade, take a tour of the collection. You are looking for a plastic pencil box wrapped in black plastic. This park is a cozy one acre, but offers two neat benches and some history.
Travel Safe!

This is the text on the nearby Historical Marker.
The coordinates for this sign, not the cache, are N 30’16.518’, W 097’43.831’.
Swedish Hill. Residential development of this area began in the 1870s when a number of Swedish immigrants erected homes near their downtown businesses. Initially bounded by Red River, 14th, 18th, and Navasota Streets, the neighborhood became known as Svenska Kullen (Swedish Hill). A Swedish Methodist and other Swedish Churches were built in the area, which was later divided by the interstate highway. A number of historic houses remain in the section of Swedish Hill that is East of the Interstate. The neighborhood was listed in the National Register of Historical Places in 1986.

SWEDE HILL, TEXAS. Swede Hill was a small community established by Swedesqv in central Austin; it was originally bounded by Waller Street on the east, Red River Street on the west, Fifteenth Street on the south, and Nineteenth on the north. By the 1980s only the portion of Swede Hill east of Interstate Highway 35 remained intact as a neighborhood; in 1986 the area was designated a National Register historic district. In the 1870s a large number of Swedish immigrants began to establish homes in an area of Austin just north of Fifteenth Street. The first to build his home there was S. A. Lundell; soon thereafter Carl John Swahn built his house there, and many others followed. Eventually some sixty-seven Swedish immigrant families built homes in the vicinity, and the area became known in Austin as Swede Hill or Swedish Hill. The first Swedish Methodist church in Texas was organized in Austin, and shortly afterward its congregation built a church at Fifteenth and Red River streets in Swede Hill. Other Swedish churches were established near Swede Hill, and soon Texas Wesleyan College (founded by Swedish Methodists) was established in the vicinity, at Twenty-sixth and Red River streets. In the 1980s the houses that remained at Swede Hill in the National Register district had been constructed between 1880 and 1938. At that time this district was the best example in East Austin of a late nineteenth and early twentieth century residential neighborhood that remained intact. The structures in the neighborhood demonstrated a consistency of landscape, scale, materials, craftsmanship, and state of preservation which was unusual in the area. By the late 1980s two houses in Swede Hill-Blomquist home and Anderson Home-had been designated by the city of Austin as historic structures.
Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. "SWEDE HILL, TX," (visit link)
Tour Swedish places in and around Austin.
There are many Swedish settlements around Austin. Here is a little history about how Swedes came to Texas. Sven Magnus Swenson came to America in 1836. He then came to Austin, Texas with his business. After seeing Texas he felt that it was a great place to relocate families from Barkeryd, Sweden. A cousin of Swenson, Swante Palm, came to Texas in 1844. In 1848 a large number of immigrants (25); farm hands, maids and families from his home community came to
Texas. In the 1880's conditions in Sweden were pretty bad. Lack of food to feed the Swedish people caused the people to immigrate to other countries. Therefore Swenson and Palm saw an opportunity to bring Swedes to Texas to farm the lands around Austin. They offered to finance the transportation to Texas if they would work off their ticket for one year. Approximately 90% of all early Swedish settlers came to Texas with passage paid in this manner. The greatest period of Swedes moving to Texas was during 1867-1900's. Swedes helped build the capital and many businesses in early Austin. Some of the Swedish sites in central Texas are as follows:
• Govalle, Texas ( good graising)- east of Austin
• Swenson built log cabin in Govalle which is now located in Zilker Park in Austin.
• Swede Hill was located on East 15th Street in Austin.
• Gethsemane Lutheran Church -1875 north of the Capital
• The Swedish Bakery on Congress south of the Capital
• Palm Valley Lutheran Church -1870 and cemetery near Round Rock
• New Sweden Lutheran Church -1876 and cemetery
Other towns and settlements are as follows: Round Rock, Georgetown, Hutto, Lund, Elroy, Manda, Creedmore and Kimbro, Texas. Many little Swedish settlements have faded away.
Swedish Club News www.swedishclub.org

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