Early education for African American students in Port Lavaca dates from the late nineteenth century and a one-room school run by James Choice. The Rev. A.K. Black, a Baptist pastor, later led the school, which included grades 1 to 5 and was located . . . — — Map (db m182150) HM
Texas land empresario Henri Castro contracted to bring colonists of various European nationalities to Texas beginning in 1842. The first of these were Alsatians, most of whom spoke German and held German sympathies. They arrived at Galveston, their . . . — — Map (db m181211) HM
In November of 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, the Union Army arrived in Calhoun County. Union and Texas troops rarely met on the field of battle in Texas, as most of the war was concentrated in the east and south of the country. The Union . . . — — Map (db m120714) HM
Constructed in 1904 by local merchant and real estate agent C.U. Yancy, the Beach Hotel has been a part of the Port Lavaca landscape for generations. At the time of its construction, the hotel was the tallest building in town. Tourists from San . . . — — Map (db m181308) HM
Formed from Jackson, Matagorda, and Victoria Counties
Created April 4, 1846 Organized July 13, 1846
Named in honor of John Caldwell Calhoun 1782-1850
A distinguished Southern statesman
A member of Congress and of the Cabinet . . . — — Map (db m205704) HM
Severe storms with high winds, heavy rains and tidal surges, hurricanes have played a significant role in events that shaped Calhoun County's history. Entire towns, including Indianola (a key Gulf seaport and Calhoun County seat) and Saluria . . . — — Map (db m120674) HM
Before World War II, Calhoun County was primarily involved in farming, ranching and commercial seafood but after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the county became a major participant in the war effort. In November 1940, much of the county's shoreline . . . — — Map (db m120676) HM
As part of the U. S. Naval initiative to control Texas Confederate ports, the gunboats "Clifton" and "Westfield" turned to the town then known as Lavaca after easily taking Galveston and Indianola. On October 31, 1862, under a flag of truce, . . . — — Map (db m173656) HM
In February 1863, local inventor E. G. Singer developed and tested a torpedo with a unique spring action ignition system on the shores of Lavaca Bay. With nine other Lavaca citizens including Singer's financial partner Dr. J. R. Fretwell and . . . — — Map (db m172433) HM
This burial ground served members of the Clark family, many of whom lived in the no longer extant Chocolate Community. Named for the Chocolate Creek, which runs nearby, the settlement began when Sylvanus Hatch purchased property near the creek. In . . . — — Map (db m206017) HM
After Texas was annexed into the United States in 1846, part of what was once De Leon’s Colony was organized as Calhoun County, giving the county access to valuable cropland and bays—the most important being modern-day Matagorda . . . — — Map (db m117439) HM
After independence from Spain, Mexico utilized the Empresario System to settle the province of Texas with loyal citizens. Seeing his opportunity, Don Martin de Leon applied on April 8, 1824, to the provincial delegation of San Fernando de Bexar for . . . — — Map (db m181115) HM
Prior to Dr. Knipling's work, livestock production in North America was plagued by enormous losses each year due to infestations of Cochliomyia hominivorax, commonly known as the screwworm fly. Edward F. Knipling was born near Port Lavaca on . . . — — Map (db m182159) HM
Organized in 1854 as the Lavaca Baptist Church, this congregation developed from area missionary efforts that began in the 1830s. The original church leaders were: Elder J.M.B. Haynie, pastor: Ammon Burr, clerk; and John Slater and Charles Ives, . . . — — Map (db m181208) HM
Legend has it that the area's first Presbyterian Church service was held in a local saloon in 1848. Eleven charter members soon began meeting with the Rev. A. Stephen F. Cocke in a warehouse also shared by the Methodist congregation and the school. . . . — — Map (db m181205) HM
The First Methodist Church of Port Lavaca was organized in 1841 by the Rev. Joseph P. Sneed of the Victoria Circuit. By 1844 the Lavaca congregation had joined the newly formed Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Though hurricanes plagued the area, . . . — — Map (db m181215) HM
Records indicate Episcopal worship services were held in Lavaca prior to the 1850s. By 1852 the Rev. Henry N. Pierce, Rector of Christ Church in Matagorda, periodically came to conduct services here. The Rev. C.S. Hedges, with funding made possible . . . — — Map (db m181312) HM
Named for the nearby tidal lake of the same name, the community of Green Lake began to develop in the late 1840s, although records indicate there were some settlers in the area before that time. A group of wealthy planters from Kentucky migrated to . . . — — Map (db m61292) HM
This hexagonal, three-story cypress building sat on a platform supported by piles in Matagorda Bay. Supplies were brought twice yearly to this lighthouse, whose beacon extended 12 miles to warn mariners of sandbars and reefs. Restoration was a . . . — — Map (db m195693) HM WM
Constructed in 1858, this three-story hexagonal lighthouse was originally located in Matagorda Bay, at the southern tip of Half Moon reef. The beacon served as an aid to ships trading in Port Lavaca and the nearby town of Indianola (14 mi. SE). . . . — — Map (db m53111) HM
This cemetery served the Hatch family and other members of the former community of Chocolate. Captain Sylvanus Hatch, founder of the settlement, was born in Falmouth, Massachusetts on June 1, 1788. He became a contractor and builder, eventually . . . — — Map (db m207766) HM
In the mid-twentieth century, Calhoun County was beginning an unprecedented period of growth. Howard G. Hartzog, Sr. was an active community leader who guided the county as a private citizen, county judge and as a state representative by diligently . . . — — Map (db m120672) HM
In Whose Honor Jefferson County, Texas
Was Named Chief Justice of Calhoun County
1848-1856 Born in Kentucky
March 12, 1801 Died July 25, 1865 — — Map (db m182143) HM
John William McKamey (1878-1955) was born in Salem, Arkansas, to John Samuel Monroe and Sarah Rebecca McKamey. John’s family valued education and moved four times in order for John to graduate from Baylor University with two diplomas in Military . . . — — Map (db m207923) HM
The first Masonic Lodge in Calhoun County was chartered as Lavaca Lodge No. 36 in 1848. After a period of inactivity during and after the Civil War, the Port Lavaca Lodge disbanded. The fraternal organization reappeared in Port Lavaca in 1886, when . . . — — Map (db m181089) HM
Born in Virginia, Dr. Moses Johnson settled in Port Lavaca about 1837. After moving to Austin in 1840 to practice medicine, he was elected city alderman and then mayor. An active Mason, he served as Grand Marshal of the Grand Lodge of Texas, A.F. . . . — — Map (db m205705) HM
Organized at Indianola (14 Mi. SE) in 1870, this church is one of the oldest Black fellowships in Calhoun County. The first pastor was the Rev. Joseph Whitlock, an elder in the White Baptist congregation of the city. Several members of this church . . . — — Map (db m182140) HM
Artillery batteries in Lavaca returned fired on two Union gunships that fired first on the small town October 31, 1862. Accurate fire from the shore batteries forced the gunboats, Clifton and Westfield, to move outside the range of the smaller . . . — — Map (db m173657) HM
In 1791, Spaniard priests Manuel De Silva and Joseph Francisco Mariano Garza endeavored to spread the doctrines of Christianity among the native tribes along the Gulf Coast, now called Karankawa, with the added benefit of giving Spain a foothold . . . — — Map (db m117448) HM
Founded in the aftermath of a Comanche raid on the nearby settlement of Linville, the town of Lavaca (the cow) was established in 1840. The busiest port in the Matagorda Bay area and a major center for over-land export of cattle and other goods, . . . — — Map (db m53110) HM
Burials in this historic cemetery began in the 1840s, with several mass graves dating from an 1849 cholera epidemic. Pioneer families and their descendants, as well as prominent state, county, and city officials, are also interred in the community . . . — — Map (db m182147) HM
The first Port Lavaca Chapter of the Eastern Star, No. 171, began in 1894, but ended 5 years later. On May 10, 1907, a second dispensation was constituted for Port Lavaca Chapter No. 373. Members of the earlier chapter were among the 13 charter . . . — — Map (db m181087) HM
The oldest known grave here is that of Major Horam Watts, the customs collector at Linnville and casualty of a Comanche raid on that nearby settlement, Aug. 8, 1840. The site was called Ranger Cemetery after the burial in 1850 of Margaret Peyton . . . — — Map (db m181210) HM
The Rev. John Nelson organized a congregation of the Free Will Baptist Church (Free Mission Baptist Church) in the coastal town of Indianola in 1872. Three years later, a devastating hurricane struck the Texas Gulf coast, inflicting major damage on . . . — — Map (db m182156) HM
Early membership in Salem Lutheran Church reflected the German Lutheran population that immigrated to Texas through the nearby Port of Indianola and the Port of Galveston in the 19th century, members of the Kemper, Knipling, Rosenbaum and Wehmeyer . . . — — Map (db m181119) HM
Chartered in 1850, the San Antonio & Mexican Gulf Railroad was one of the first railroads in Texas. San Antonio investors hoped it would open trade from the Gulf. As the line was built westward from Port Lavaca, wagons loaded with goods met the . . . — — Map (db m181220) HM
The first known grave in the Czech German settlement of Marekville was that of Veranka Drgac (1817-1897). The five-acre graveyard was deeded to the Marekville Cemetery Association by the Phillips Investment Company in 1899. The area became known as . . . — — Map (db m181118) HM
Worship services in the community that became known as Six Mile began as early as 1894, when traveling ministers such as the Rev. Anton Motycka and the Rev. Adolf Chlumsky conducted religious services once a month in the local schoolhouse. In 1900 . . . — — Map (db m181116) HM
The Phillips Investment Company issued deeds to the property on this site to Josef Marek and John Drgac in December 1894. The area, soon called Marekville, attracted Czech and German settlers with a bumper cotton crop in its first year. The first . . . — — Map (db m181110) HM
Located within 100 yards from here is one of Calhoun County's essential springs called Six Mile Watering Hole. Though the number of springs in Calhoun County is small, the location of these springs has played a part in the history of this land for . . . — — Map (db m204939) HM
When desegregation began in Calhoun County in 1955, many African American students made educational and cultural adjustments. The summer before the 1955-56 school year, long-time educator Naomi B. Chase took a group of students from the all Black . . . — — Map (db m182154) HM
Born in North Carolina, Wiley George enlisted in the Georgia militia at the age of 17, fighting in the War of 1812. He lived in Georgia and Alabama and was married to Nancy Jones (d. 1834) before coming to Texas in 1840. Settling in San Antonio, he . . . — — Map (db m182148) HM
The first chapel of Grace Parish was moved to Cuero by Bishop Gregg in A.D., 1874. The storm of September 15, 1875, sank a ship loaded with wood barrels of cement at the Port of Indianola. ...storms and high tides washed this and several other . . . — — Map (db m181316) HM
