History
50th Anniversary of Battle of Galveston
Jan. 1, 1863 --- Jan. 1, 1914 In commemorating the 50th anniversary of the capture of Galveston by the Southern Confederacy. Gen. Arthur P. Bagby commanding the "Neptune." Dedicated to the heroes who wore the gray at the battle of Galveston. Jan. 1, 1863 Capt. J. T. Whitfield Lieut. J. W. Carson Private Jno. Buchanan Capt. Jas. Walker Sergeant W. H. Turk Capt. J. W.
History
Andrew Kent
Andrew Kent was born c. 1791 in Kentucky, to Isaac Kent; his mother's name is unknown. On April 30, 1816, he wed Elizabeth Zumwalt, a Missouri native born in April 1798. Andrew worked as a carpenter, and he and Elizabeth had 10 children. While living in Missouri, they met Green DeWitt.
History
Andrews Chapel Cemetery
Associated with the Hackberry community, the Andrews Chapel Cemetery was named for settler A.G. Andrews, who by 1866 had donated land for a burial ground and Baptist church. The oldest marked grave dates to 1860 and the burial of Mexican War veteran Alfred Morrow. Other burials include that of Joseph Lawrence, a veteran of the Battles of Plum Creek and San Jacinto.
History
Arthur Henry Vollentine
Arthur Henry Vollentine was born in New Jersey or Virginia about 1807. He came to Texas about 1833 as a colonist of Empresario Martin de Leon and in 1834 he married Maryland native Mary Ann May. They moved to a Mexican land grant on Brushy Creek near present-day Yoakum, Texas, that Henry had acquired in 1835.
History
Brown School
Located in the rural farming community of St. Mary's, the Brown School began when Benedict Brown deeded land in 1894 to Lavaca County for use as a public school. By the late 1800s, Lavaca County had 85 schools across the county, many small schools serving the children living nearby.
Military
Captain Charles Welhausen
(September 2, 1835 - November 3, 1916) A native of Hanover, Germany, Charles Welhausen immigrated to Texas with his parents, arriving at the Port of Galveston in 1843. They settled first at Cat Spring in Austin County, and later moved to High Hill in Fayette county, where Charles became a saddle maker.
Military
Captain Leiper Willoughby
Star and Wreath Came to Texas in 1831. Member Captain William H. Patton's Company at the Battle of San Jacinto. Served in the Vasquez Campaign and against the Indians in 1842. Died in 1874. Erected by the State of Texas 1956.
History
City Cemetery
On July 19, 1889, the Hallettsville town council met to discuss the poor condition of various small cemeteries in the city. Mayor Fritz Lindenberg appointed Volney Ellis, W.H. Turk and E.H. Mitchel to find suitable land for burials outside the city limits. The committee completed its work in May 1890, when city cemetery trustees bought 4.5 acres from Antonia Kuhn for a new city cemetery.
History
Cotton Grove Dance Floor and Store
Following World War II, hundreds of soldiers came home from the battlefield to the rural areas of Lavaca County. The returning veterans needed a place to gather, socialize and enjoy their victory. Soldiers and their dates came to the Cotton Grove dance floor to dance and mingle. Most of the youth were first- or second-generation descendants of German and Czech immigrants.
History
Cotton Industry in Shiner
Barbed wire, the railroad, and Germans and Czechs desiring to own small family farms combined to make cotton king in Lavaca County. From 1892 to 1971, cotton ginning, the cottonseed oil industry, and cotton export by rail were a vital part of Shiner's economy. August Stephan built the city's first cotton gin in 1892, and the Shiner Oil Mill & Manufacturing Co. began in 1896.
History
Dickson School
The Lavaca County School Board established the Dickson School District as District No. 32 in 1886. The district encompassed 28.8 square miles and was named after early pioneer and lawman William Dickson. A one-room school building was constructed on the farm of Joe Koenning, approximately 500 yards north of Ponton Creek.
History
Estate of John Hallett
Member of Stephen F. Austin's colony, and an old sea captain. His log cabin was the first home in the area, 1833. Hallettsville is named for his widow, Margaret, who gave land for the town in 1852, when it became the county seat. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1967
History
Ezzell School
In the early 1850s pioneers of this area erected a building 2 miles north of this site which they called White House Christian Church and School because of the contrast its lime coating presented against the surrounding green prairie. In 1883 the school was moved to a building in the community of Ezzell on land donated by Andrew Garner.
History
First National Bank of Hallettsville
Oldest bank in Lavaca County; has operated in this city block continuously since its establishment by Friench Simpson (1848-1923) and Carey Shaw (1854-1944), former employees of the J. H. Simpson Bank, Columbus. Shaw was also one of the original officers in the Texas Bankers Association, founded in 1885. In 1888, the San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railroad was being built through Hallettsville.
History
Geiger Cemetery
Near this site was a town once known as Strunksville. It consisted of a store, post office, saloon and a horse and mule gin owned and operated by one of the first settlers of the town in 1854, Diedrich Strunk.
Military
General John W. Whitfield
Born Tennessee. Legislator. Went to Missouri 1853. Indian agent Kansas. Territory Kansas representative U.S. Congress 1854-57. Moved Texas before Civil War. Organized Lavaca County company for C.S.A. 1861, led 4th Battalion Texas Cavalry Pea Ridge, Ark. wounded battle Iuka, Miss. Leading legion. Made brigadier general 1863. Left command due to ill health, fall 1863.
History
Hackberry
The Hackberry community was established by German immigrant Ludwig Eduard Neuhaus, who came to Texas in 1846, settling in northern Lavaca County. He encouraged and sponsored other German immigrants to settle in Hackberry; among those that joined him were his brothers, Franz and Hermann. Ludwig's vision was to bring Germans to the area who could contribute to and augment its German population.
History
Hallettsville
Named for Mrs. Margaret Hallett, widow of John Hallett, a member of Austin's colony and a veteran of San Jacinto, who donated the town site. 1936
History
Hallettsville
Founded 1833 when John Hallett erected a log cabin near Lavaca River. Town was named for his widow, Margaret, who gave the land when town became county seat in 1852. Farming, livestock, poultry processing, and cotton marketing center. State Championship High School Rodeo held annually in June. 1968
History
Hallettsville Memorial Park
Land originally property of Mrs. Mary Jane Hallett Ballard, who deeded it to trustees of the "Hallettsville Graveyard" in 1870. Area pioneers were buried here until 1898. The monument in center honors county's heroes in battles of the Alamo, Goliad, Gonzales, and San Jacinto. After 1898 the cemetery fell into disuse and weeds overgrew it.
History
Hallettsville Public Schools
The existence of schools in Hallettsville can be traced to the early 1850s. Alma Male and Female Institute was established in 1852 just east of the town square on land donated by Margaret Hallett. The local Masonic lodge provided space in their building for church and school purposes for many years.
History
Herder Half Moon Place
This Greek revival home (200 yards north) was built in the 1880s by George Herder (1818-1887), veteran of the Texas Revolution and pioneer farmer and rancher in the Half Moon community. A son, William (d. 1940), later ran a butcher shop and farmed the land, opening the house to travelers in need of a place to rest.
History
Isaac D. Hamilton
Came to Texas from Alabama in January 1836. A member of Captain Jack Shackelford's Red Rover Company under Colonel Fannin's Command, March 18-19, 1836. Miraculously escaped from the Goliad Massacre. Erected by the State of Texas 1956
History
Joel Ponton
(July 3, 1802 - February 1, 1875) Born in Virginia. Came to Texas 1833. Settled first at Gonzales. Served in the 1836 Texas War for Independence. Later moved to his land here on the Navidad, where he was a farmer, minister of the gospel, frontier doctor, and merchant. In 1840 Comanche Indians shot him and left him for dead with two arrows in his back, but he recovered.
History
John Himes Livergood
(September 10, 1815 - October 3, 1893) A native of Pennsylvania, John Himes Livergood came to Texas in 1837 and received 640 acres of land on Peach Creek near Gonzales. From that time until Texas' annexation to the United States nearly ten years later, Livergood played an integral role in the defense of frontier settlements and in several major events during the Republic period.
Elsewhere in Texas
Hear it from the road
Whistlestop tells you this story automatically when you drive past. No searching, no tapping, nothing to ask.
