History

Prairieville is on Farm roads 1836 and 90, near the Van Zandt county line eight miles north of Mabank and fourteen miles southeast of Kaufman in southeastern Kaufman County. In 1848, part of the Texas colony of Norwegians, under the leadership of Johan R. Reiersen, moved from Henderson County to the Four Mile Prairie in Kaufman and Van Zandt counties. There they built their homes and farms and established Prairieville. The colony fell on difficult days in the 1850s, when an epidemic swept through the settlement, and many of the survivors moved to Bosque County. Prairieville survived, however, and reached a population of 206 by 1900 before declining to fifty by 1924. Over the years the community had a variety of stores and services-gristmills, cotton gins, general merchandise stores, carding and furniture factories, and blacksmith shops. The post office was opened in 1854 and operated with only one brief interruption until 1954. A school existed as early as the 1850s, and it survived until it was joined with the Mabank district in 1949. By the mid-1980s Prairieville was a quiet neighborhood of rural homes with one country store and a historical marker. In 1990 it reported fifty residents.

Our Choice?

We chose the name “Prairieville” for this classic, yet innovative banjo model, because the name is reminiscent of westward movement and settlers.  As we perused the map of Texas towns, we thought "Prairieville" was a great name to build a banjo around, conjuring up visions of covered wagon trains and wide open spaces.