Sweet Home

Sweet Home is on Farm roads 318 and 531 south of Mustang Creek in west Lavaca County. It was named when the first settlers found the conditions there ideal for home life. The first post office was established in 1852, and in 1860 George West established a store, a hotel, and stables. During the Civil War the town served as a winter camp for freight and cotton wagontrains carrying supplies from Alleyton to Brownsville, the only Confederate port remaining open during much of the war. Around 1873 Czechs and Germans began to move into the community. In 1887, when the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway built five miles south of the town, West sold his buildings to Jan Matusek and moved his store to the railroad. Other settlers from the old town joined him, and by 1890 the new community of Sweet Home had six stores. The railroad closed its agency in 1937. In 1948 the town had twelve stores, a recreation hall, and a church for its population of 350. In 1986 the reported population was 360, and the town had three businesses, a post office, a school and two cemeteries. The population was still 360 through 2000.