Hood County Texas Genealogical Society

TOWARD A HISTORY OF KRISTENSTAD

ABSTRACT

Much has been written about the community of Kristenstad, Hood County, Texas, and the utopian characteristics of this settlement. News accounts promoted the image of a collectivist society and these stories were generally accepted as factual by Central Texas residents and historians alike. United Press releases of several locally published feature articles expanded the myth. Other attempts to describe the socio-economic nature of Kristenstad resulted in its being labeled a communist community, a tiny kingdom and a Danish colony.

John B. Christensen, founder of the settlement, stridently denied any socialistic, communistic or utopian connection; yet, the romanticized accounts of the lifestyle of the community proved to be more convincing to the reading public. Public documents, business records and personal letters support Christensen's claim that Kristenstad was a land development venture and not a utopian experiment of the 1930's.

Copyright 1978 by Vaudrene R. Smith Hunt. Written permission granted to the Hood County Genealogical Society for reproduction to its Internet web site.

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