Albert

Overview

The town that went up for auction

Albert sits on Williams Creek in the southeast corner of Gillespie County, a mile from the Blanco County line. It began in 1877 as Martinsburg, a stop on the stage road between Fredericksburg and Blanco. In 1892 Albert Luckenbach sold his store in the town that carries his family name, moved here and opened a post office under his own first name.

The town never got big. It had a school, a store, a singing society and a dance hall, and a young Lyndon Johnson spent a year at its school. There were 50 people in 1925 and four in 1964. By 1985 the store had been torn down and the dance hall was being used for storage.

Then the town got a second life. Bobby Cave bought the property in 2004 and built a tavern where the store had stood. In October 2007 he listed the whole town on eBay with a $2.5 million reserve. In 2009 it was divided up and offered for sale again, and the Easley family's company bought a 12.09-acre piece. Today the Albert Icehouse & Dancehall runs a beer garden with free shows Wednesday to Sunday, and ticketed shows in the dance hall.

Timeline

From Martinsburg to eBay

1. 1877Fritz Wilke, George Maenius and John Petri move out from Fredericksburg looking for grazing land. The settlement is called Martinsburg, a stop on the Fredericksburg–Blanco stage route.
2. 1877–1886The Martinsburg post office operates. After 1886 the mail goes through Hye in Blanco County.
3. 1891The first local school opens.
4. 1892Albert Luckenbach sells his store in Luckenbach, moves here and opens a new post office, which he registers as Albert.
5. 1897Postmaster Otto Schumann opens the town's first store. The Albert Echo singing society follows in 1898.
6. 1900A new school building goes up. Young Lyndon Johnson is enrolled there for a year.
7. 1925Albert has 50 residents. By 1964 the count is four.
8. 1985The store has been torn down, the school is a community club and the dance hall is partitioned for storage.
9. 2004Bobby Cave buys the property for $216,000 and builds a tavern on the site of the old store.
10. Oct 2007Cave lists the town on eBay with a $2.5 million reserve.
11. 2009The town is divided up and offered for sale again. A 12.09-acre parcel later goes to the Easley family's company, and Brandon Easley, named town manager, fixes up what is now the Albert Ice House and Dance Hall.

What's left

What you'll see

The dance hall is the reason to come. The icehouse beside it has a patio and beer garden. The Handbook of Texas noted in 1985 that the old school had become a community club. Everything else around the crossroads is private ranch land, so stay on the venue grounds.

• Dance hall
• Icehouse and beer garden
• Old school building
• Williams Creek crossing

Historic maps

Albert on USGS maps, 1894–1985

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

18941:125,00019541:250,00019611:24,00019851:100,000

Day trip

Plan a day trip to Albert from Fredericksburg

Take it with you

Day trip itinerary

The essentials, the sample day with boxes to tick, what to photograph and the coordinates, on two printable pages. Handy where there's no signal.

Download the PDF (484 KB)

Albert is an afternoon and evening more than a day. Spend the day in the Hill Country and finish at the beer garden when the music starts. Luckenbach, where Albert Luckenbach kept store before he moved here, is about 20 miles west by road, also just south of US 290, so the two old dance-hall towns pair well.

A sample day

1. AfternoonLeave Fredericksburg on US 290 east and stop at Luckenbach first, on RM 1376 south of the highway.
2. Late afternoonDrive on to Albert. Straight from Fredericksburg it is about half an hour.
3. EveningStay for the beer garden and whatever band is on. On Thursday to Sunday the food vendor serves until 8 p.m.

What to photograph and film

• The dance hall. The board-sided gable end and its oval sign face the gravel yard. Late light from the west warms the boards.
• The creek. Williams Creek runs just south of the crossroads. Shoot it from the road, not private land.

Map & directions

Getting there

Fredericksburg is the closest city, about half an hour east on US 290 and south on RM 1623. From San Antonio, the route runs up US 281 to Johnson City and west on RM 1623. Both are paved all the way.

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

Photos

Albert in photos

The Albert Dance Hall, 2012The 1961 Hye sheet

Visitor reports

Been to Albert?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

Thanks. Your report reached us, and we'll read it before it goes on the page.

Farm and ranch

More farm and ranch ghost towns

The nearest in Texas.

Guide

Luckenbach

30.18, -98.76

Gillespie County, Texas

A German farm hamlet of 492 people in 1904 that had nearly emptied by the 1960s. Hondo Crouch bought it in 1971, and a hit song made it famous.…

Open dailyFarm and ranch

Guide

Morris Ranch

30.22, -99.01

Gillespie County, Texas

A town built around a big thoroughbred operation. The horses left in 1902, the post office in 1954, and the stone schoolhouse now stands on a private…

PrivateFarm and ranch

All 114 farm and ranch ghost towns →

Nearby

Other sites near Albert

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Texas index.

• Nebgen School8.6 mi N · Gillespie
• Luckenbach9.3 mi W · Gillespie
• Grapetown10.5 mi W · Gillespie
• Cain City12.6 mi W · Gillespie
• Bankersmith13.5 mi W · Kendall
• Fort Martin Scott15.1 mi W · Gillespie
• Currey's Creek15.5 mi S · Kendall
• Eckert17.2 mi NW · Gillespie

Sources

Sources and credits

1. Handbook of Texas Online, "Albert, TX" (Martin Donell Kohout, rev. 1994), accessed October 19, 2026: founding, Martinsburg name, post office dates, school and LBJ, population figures, 1985 condition.
2. Wikipedia, "Albert, Texas", retrieved October 2026: 2004 purchase, 2007 eBay listing, 2009 division and resale, the Easley parcel.
3. Albert Icehouse & Dancehall, official site, and its Icehouse page, as of October 2026: hours, address, beer garden, free and ticketed shows, food vendor, the move from Luckenbach about 20 miles away.
4. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026.

Photo and map credits

• The Albert Dance Hall, 2012: Renelibrary, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
• The 1961 Hye sheet: U.S. Geological Survey, USGS catalog, Public domain
• The 1894 Fredericksburg sheet still labels the town Martinsburgh, on Williams Creek east of Stonewall: U.S. Geological Survey, USGS catalog, Public domain
• Area base map, topo and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
• Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Fredericksburg 1894, 1:125,000; Llano 1954, 1:250,000; Hye 1961, 1:24,000; Pedernales River 1985, 1:100,000.