Yorktown, Texas, was established as a small town in the spring of 1848 by Charles Eckhardt and Captain John York, who announced that ten acres would be deeded to the first ten settlers. A surveyor from Germany, Mr. Hartmann, was the first to accept the offer, and the second family to settle there was Hartmann's father-in-law, Johann Andreas Strieber. More families soon came with the promise of land, and many of those original family names, including Hartmann, Eckhardt, Gerhardt, Strieber, Kraege, Von Roeder, Riedel, and Gohmert, remain in Yorktown. Original buildings still stand and function as businesses, including two now encompassed by the Yorktown Museum and another now serving as Main Florist and Gift Shop, while a former general store and attached bank also appear in early views of the town. A park once featured a two-story gazebo with an open lower level for dancing, bands playing on the second floor, and a basement used as the public library. In 1872 Yorktown had a population of 360, with listed wages and prices including carpenters earning $1.75 to $2.00, day laborers earning $.75 to $1.00, flour at $11.00 per barrel, beef at $.035 to $.04 per pound, pork at $.05 to $.08 per pound, and Indian corn at $1.00 to $1.25 per barrel. Photographs of Main Street during a fall fair show buildings that still stand today. The town later replaced a handcrafted wooden bridge spanning the creek with a large concrete bridge, and photographs also show the Horned Palace, whose walls were covered with the horns of various animals, smaller cars parked along Main Street in the 1950s, and the fire station and water tower once standing at the southeast corner of the park, where the fire station remains and the public library is now located.