About Us

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Lohman's Crossing Band came together in 2009. The band named themselves after German Immigrant John Henry Lohmann who landed in Galveston with a wife and four small children during the winter of 1842. They made their way northward by ox cart, stopped briefly at Hornsby Bend, then settled on a tract of land on a hill overlooking the small community of Austin. Lohmann called the place Ridgetop, but it is better known today as the site of the University of Texas.  Lohmann established the first dairy in Travis County in 1845. His herd of 11 cows supplied enough milk for the entire Austin community, which included about 35 primitive dwellings and a rude capitol building. John continued the operation until 1861, when he homesteaded a fertile site along the river about 17 miles northwest of Austin and built a large stone house and five tenant cabins.  He also built and maintained a private road to a shallow river crossing, or ford. According to Lohmann the crossing at normal river level was 'up to a horse's belly, but a man could jump across it during a drought. In time the access became known as Lohmann's Ford Road but the name was somehow changed through local usage and one 'n' dropped from his name. Today it is shown on local maps as Lohman's Crossing Road.  Lohmann's Ford was one of the several such accesses that enabled pioneer families to cross the Colorado River, socialize with friends in neighboring communities and grind their corn at Anderson Mill. (credit: lakeway-tx.gov