In the late 1800’s, the Danish Folk Society was formed to assist the immigrants from Denmark in getting settled in mid-western states. Later the society decided to expand the influence of the Danish immigrants to other area of the United States, so they obtained an option on 25,000 acres of land in the coastal plains of Texas and offered this land for sale to the Danes who had settled primarily in the states of Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, Michigan and the Dakotas.

Beginning in 1894, approximately 100 families bought various size parcels of land and moved to this area of Texas about 75 miles southwest of Houston and established the community of Danevang. The Folk Society also contributed some land to the community for a community center and church. When the immigrants arrived, they found flat land covered with waist high prairie grass as far as the eye could see.

They began to break up the land with their primitive farm equipment so that it could be farmed. At first they tried to raise the same crops, such as wheat, oats, and barley, which they had grown in Denmark and in the mid-western states, but soon found that the Texas climate was not suitable for these crops. Therefore, they had some very lean years and some of the settlers sold out and moved back to where they had come from or to other states. Those hardy souls who stayed in Danevang soon learned that cotton was a better crop to be raised in that area. After the farmers all converted to raising cotton, the community began to prosper and has continued to be successful.

In the early years, the Danish language was spoken throughout the community and the Danish traditions were maintained, such as observing the Danish holiday celebrations. Through the following years, English gradually became the primary language and the citizens of Danevang became Americanized. In 1993, a group of people with ties to Danevang, some still living there and some who had left the farms to make a living elsewhere, were discussing the history of the community and came to the realization that the Danish heritage of Danevang was being lost over time. Some of these people got together and formed the Danish Heritage Preservation Society for the purpose of restoring and preserving that heritage which was being lost.

The Society purchased three acres of land from the church for a museum site. One family donated a house that had been built in the years before 1900. This house was moved to the museum site and was restored to its original configuration and was furnished with articles from the period before 1920. Another family donated a building that had been a private on-the-farm museum and all of the private collection of artifacts that it contained. This building was also moved to the site. In the year 2000, construction was begun on a modern museum building, which was designed to resemble a Danish barn. This building was dedicated on June 1, 2001.