Marker Text: Worship services in the community that became known as Six Mile began as early as 1894, when traveling ministers such as the Rev. Anton Motycka and the Rev. Adolf Chlumsky conducted religious services once a month in the local schoolhouse. In 1990 the Rev. Mr. Chlumsky led the first area confirmation classes, and Presbyterian services began in 1909. The Rev. H. E. Beseda, Sr., formally organized the Czech Presbyterian church in 1911. A church building, erected on the site in 1923 and destroyed by a hurricane in 1942, was replaced in 1943. Most services were conducted in Czech until 1956. The church remains an active congregation central to life in the Six Mile Community.(1998)

Six Mile Cemetery

Marker Location: 4.5 mi. NW of Port Lavaca on FM 1090; .4 mi. W on Royal Road

Marker Text: The first known grave in Czech-German settlement on Marekville was that of Veranka Drgac (1817-1897). The five-acre graveyard was deeded to the Marekville cemetery association by the Phillips Investment Company in 1899. The area became known as the Six Mile Community around 1907; the cemetery name changed accordingly. Graves of interest include that of Anton Machacek (1856-1931), who served in the Austro-Hungarian Army before immigrating to the United States. Veterans of major American and international conflicts also are interred here. An October 1997 count recorded more than 350 marked graves in the cemetery, which continues to serve the community. (1998)

Six Mile Royal Community

 Marker Location: 4.1 mi. NW of SH 35 on FM 1090

Marker Text: The Phillips Investment Company issued deeds to the property on this site to Josef Marek and John Drgac in December 1894. The area, soon called Marekville, attracted Czech and German settlers with a bumper cotton crop in its first year. The first school building was erected in 1895; a post office opened in 1905, taking the name Royal after the county commissioner. The Six-Mile name is believed to come from a local watering hole; from Port Lavaca, it was "six miles to water." This name was used formally as early as 1907 by the Six Mile Farmers Union. The post office closed in 1910, but the area continued to grow. In 1997, about 200 families still resided in the area. (1998)

Information excerpted from Texas Historic Sites Atlas (on line) located at: http://atlas.thc.state.tx.us/Atlas/atlas_search_frame.html

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