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Edna, Texas

Everything Edna is known for

1 song mention this city 1 artist from here

RoadyGoat plays music like this when you drive through Edna. It's free on iPhone, and full songs play through Apple Music.

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Music in Edna

Songs About Edna

Jackson County
Gage Saylor
10%
"SONG TITLE: Jackson County"

Artists From Edna

A
Adysen Malek
country

Rivers & Roads in Song near Edna

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Edna.

U.S. Route 59 9 songs Guadalupe River 18 songs Texas State Highway 71 2 songs Texas Colorado River 6 songs San Antonio River 2 songs

History of Edna

Texana rolled here on oxen and logs RoadyGoat

The very existence of Edna is because of a ghost town. Before 1882, the seat of Jackson County was Texana, a thriving river port a few miles from here. But when the New York, Texas and Mexican Railway surveyed its route, it bypassed Texana for a flatter, more direct path. The citizens of Texana knew that without the railroad, their town would die. So they made a radical decision. Instead of fading away, they moved. For over a year, they put their houses, stores, and hotels on log rollers and used teams of oxen to drag them across the prairie to the new railroad depot. The town you're in now, Edna, was built with the bones of Texana. It’s a rare, incredible story of an entire community picking up and moving to chase the future. The old Texana is gone, marked only by a cemetery and a state park, but its spirit lives on in the relocated buildings of Edna.

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Edna, TX RoadyGoat

The 1954 Supreme Court case Hernandez v. Texas, which concerned the racial context of jury selection for a trial that took place in Edna, was a landmark decision determining that Mexican Americans and all other racial groups in the U.S. had equal protection under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.

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The Railroad That Erased a Town RoadyGoat

The location of Edna is a direct result of 19th-century transportation engineering. In September 1881 the New York, Texas and Mexican Railway — promoted and built by an Italian count named Joseph Telfener — began laying track from Rosenberg toward Victoria. The engineers' goal was simple: find the cheapest, fastest, most efficient route across the flat coastal prairie. The existing county seat, Texana, sat down where the Navidad meets the Lavaca, a key location in the age of water travel. But for a railroad, a riverside town with its uneven bottomland was an obstacle, not an asset. The engineers went around it, laying track roughly eight miles to the west and putting a stop right here. The first train arrived on the Fourth of July, 1882. By 1883 Texana had been bypassed for good; voters moved the county seat to Edna, and by 1884 Texana was a virtual ghost town. Even the Presbyterian congregation gave up and hauled its 1859 sanctuary eight miles overland to the new town. Edna, by the way, was named for the count's daughter. One engineering decision redrew the map.

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Gibson, Henry [Monk]

1905

Henry "Monk" Gibson, born around 1889, was the convicted murderer of members of the Conditt family of Edna, Texas, on September 28, 1905. Gibson, a Black teenager, was employed by J. F. Conditt to plow his field when Conditt's wife, Lora, their twelve-year-old daughter, Mildred, and sons Herschell, Jesse, and Joseph were found bludgeoned and stabbed to death at their home. The youngest Conditt child, ten-month-old Lloyd, survived. Lora and Mildred had been sexually assaulted. J. F. Conditt had been working in a rice field several miles away. Suspicions soon centered on Gibson, who was the person that initially reported the murders. Gibson was taken into custody that evening by Jackson county Sheriff Albert C. Egg. He subsequently escaped while being transferred to a jail in nearby Hallettsville, largely to protect him from possible lynching, and remained at large for nearly two weeks, sparking a massive manhunt that drew national attention. In the meantime his family was arrested and jailed, possibly due to suspicions that they had aided his escape and possibly also due to rumors that local mobs were planning to burn them to death. Governor S. W. T. Lanham called out the troops-elements of the Houston Light Guards and another contingent of cavalrymen from Austin-to protect Gibson and his family from lynching. A contingent of Texas Rangers under Captain William Jesse McDonald arrived to coordinate the search for Gibson and, later, to protect him from angry citizens. Gibson was eventually discovered on October 9, hiding in a nearby barn. He was promptly indicted by a local grand jury. His attorneys won a change of venue to Bexar County where a jury was unable to reach a verdict, at least in part because it was thought that the slightly built Gibson could not have acted alone to commit the killings. Indeed, after the mistrial a Black man named Felix Powell was tried, convicted, and hung in connection with the Conditt murders. The second trial of Monk Gibson was held in DeWitt County, adjoining the county in which the crime took place. Here a jury selected from a panel of 190 White men convicted Gibson of murder on evidence that included testimony that Gibson was seen near the murder scene at the time of the killings and that he was found to have spots of blood on his clothes and skin after the bodies of the Conditts were discovered. Gibson's appeal of the conviction raised the issues of racial prejudice in selection of the jury; Gibson's youth (he was either sixteen or seventeen at the time of the murders); the state's introduction into evidence of photographs taken several months after the crime took place; and Gibson's unsuccessful request for a second change of venue in the case. The appeal failed, and Gibson was hanged in Cuero on June 27, 1908, before a large crowd of onlookers. A subject of massive statewide interest, if not hysteria, at the time, the Monk Gibson case is perhaps most notable now for the fact that a trial was held at all- lynching was not uncommon in the era, especially when a Black man was alleged to have committed violence against a White woman-and for the way that the trial prefigured legal issues relating to race and age that still trouble Texas criminal courts.

Tsha Handbook →

Green, Rufus, Sr.

1950

Rufus Green, Sr., African-American champion calf roper and horse trainer, was born near Edna, Texas, on March 30, 1923. He attended school only through the elementary grade level. When he was fifteen years old, he found employment as a ranch hand on the F.W. Gross Ranch in Victoria, Texas, where his cowboy days began as he developed an ability to ride horses. He learned to rope and care for horses under the direction of cowboys James Fry and Richard Miller. Green's ability to communicate with horses enabled him to eventually develop into one of the best roping, barrel racing, hazing, and cutting horse trainers of his time. On weekends he competed against other cowboys on the ranch as they rode bucking horses and roped calves. As his skills developed, he entered local rodeos in South Texas to supplement his income. Green was so successful in calf roping competitions that he made enough money to quit his ranch job and became a full-time rodeo professional during the 1950s. In the early 1960s Green was the first African American to enter the calf roping event in the Houston Fat Stock Show held at the Sam Houston Coliseum. He placed second in the tie-down contest. This event happened long before Blacks were allowed seats inside the arena. During his career, Green competed in more than 2,000 rodeos all across the United States and won many monetary prizes, trophies, saddles, and belt buckles. He was featured in Ebony magazine in 1957. He was named all-around champion at rodeos at Frank County Fair in Ottawa, Kansas, in 1960 and Manor Downs in Austin, Texas, in 1978. Green and his first wife, Doris M. Griffin, had two sons-Rufus Jr., a medical doctor, and Bobby L. Green, a registered nurse. He married again and with second wife, Castella Green, had six foster children. Green also had a daughter named Lawana Green-Stevenson. Green was a founding member of the Southwestern Rodeo Cowboy's Association, a historically Black organization. He was one of the first Black cowboys to receive a Professional Rodeo Cowboy's Association (PRCA) Card. Green trained more than 1,000 competition horses. He also trained more than 100 young men and women to ride, rope, barrel race, and bulldog in rodeos and horse riding competitions. Many of his students went on to be top contenders themselves, including William Hollis, Cleo Hearns, Shirley Gladden, Calvin Greeley, and Cedric Haynes. Later in life, Green not only remained active in the competitive rodeo circuit, he was also a staunch promoter of the events. He and Monroe Lawson produced the first rodeo on the campus of Prairie View A&M University to celebrate Black history. Green received his last trophy saddle for competing in the senior category at a rodeo in Conroe, Texas, in 1978. He continued to compete and attend rodeos and calf roping until his death on January 17, 1982, at his home in Prairie View, Texas. Close friend Monroe Lawson summed up Green's life and personality and stated that he was "exceptional in his roping skills, majestic in his performance, incomparable in his disposition, unique in his sense of humor, shrewd as a horse trader, a master teacher of calf roping and most admirable in his relationships with young people." Rufus Green, Sr., was inducted into the National Multicultural Western Heritage Museum's Hall of Fame in 2007.

Tsha Handbook →

Hernandez v. State of Texas

1950

The first and only Mexican-American civil-rights case heard and decided by the United States Supreme Court during the post-World War II period was Hernández v. the State of Texas. In 1950 Pete Hernández, a migrant cotton picker, was accused of murdering Cayetano "Joe" Espinosa in Edna, Texas, a small town in Jackson County, where no person of Mexican origin had served on a jury for at least twenty-five years. Gustavo (Gus) García , an experienced Mexican-American civil-rights lawyer, agreed to represent the accused without fee. García envisioned the Hernández case as a challenge to the systematic exclusion of persons of Mexican origin from all types of jury duty in at least seventy counties in Texas. It was not surprising to him when Hernández was found guilty and the decision was upheld by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals . The Supreme Court acted upon a writ of certiorari and heard the arguments on January 11, 1954. With García were James de Anda and Chris Alderete of the American G.I. Forum and Carlos Cadena and John J. Herrera of the League of United Latin American Citizens . García argued that the Fourteenth Amendment guaranteed protection not only on the basis of race, Caucasian and Negro, but also class. Those who administered the process of jury selection introduced discrimination because of exclusion based on class. The state of Texas contended that the Fourteenth Amendment covered only Whites and Blacks, and that Mexican Americans are White. The state admitted that no person with a Spanish surname had served on any type of jury for twenty-five years, but that this absence only indicated coincidence, not a pattern of attitude and behavior. García and his associates presented comprehensive evidence that in Jackson County discrimination and segregation were common practice, and Mexican Americans were treated as a class apart. Chief Justice Earl Warren delivered the unanimous opinion of the court in favor of Hernández and ordered a reversal of conviction. The Supreme Court accepted the concept of distinction by class, that is, between "White" and Hispanic, and found that when laws produce unreasonable and different treatment on such a basis, the constitutional guarantee of equal protection is violated. The court held that Hernández had "the right to be indicted and tried by juries from which all members of his class are not systematically excluded." This decision was a major triumph for the "other White" concept, the legal strategy of Mexican-American civil-rights activists from 1930 to 1970. Faced with the separate but equal doctrine they argued that segregation of Mexican-origin persons was illegal in the absence of state law. Hernández was the logical extension of that argument. The case was a valuable precedent until it was replaced in 1971 by Cisneros v. Corpus Christi ISD , which recognized Hispanics as an identifiable minority group and utilized the Brown decision of 1954 to prohibit segregation.

Tsha Handbook →

Brackenridge Cemetery

1800

Among family members buried there: John A. Brackenridge (1800-62), a Warrick County, Ind., neighbor from whom young Abraham Lincoln borrowed law brooks, 1855 founder of Texana Presbyterian Church; his son, George W. Brackenridge (1832-1902), emissary to Benito Juarez in Mexico from President Lincoln in 1860s, founder (1866) San Antonio National Bank, donor San Antonio's Brackenridge Park, member first board of regents, the University of Texas, serving 30 years, philanthropist; daughter Mary Eleanor Brackenridge (1837-1924), on first board of regents, CIA (Texas Woman's University).

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Trooper Bill Davidson Memorial Highway

1992

Honors Texas DPS Trooper Bill Davidson, killed April 14, 1992, during a traffic stop on US-59 in Jackson County by Ronald Ray Howard. The case sparked a landmark civil suit by Davidson's widow against Tupac Shakur and Time Warner over the lyrics of 2Pacalypse Now.

Historical Marker →

Confederates of Jackson County

1860

From 1860 population of 2612 came more than 100 Civil War soldiers, one an infantryman on a crutch: M. K. Simons, a Mexican war amputee, brigade quartermaster, 2nd Texas infantry, C. S. A. Officers included Capt. C. L. Owen, veteran of the Texas Revolution and Mexican war; killed at Shiloh in 1862. Composed chiefly of Jackson County men were Co. D, 1st Texas Cavalry; Co. K, 2nd Texas Infantry; and Co. M, 27th Texas Cavalry (Whitfield's Legion). Jackson men were also in other units, including Confederate marines and Terry's Texas Rangers, and saw much of war's greatest action.

Historical Marker →

Things to Do in Edna

quirky 21.5 mi away
Easter Island Heads

Three 13-foot moai replicas weighing seven tons each stand in a pasture on the northeast side of the Loop 463 Zac Lentz Parkway access road built by Victoria…

Everything Near Edna

110 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

  • Trooper Bill Davidson Memorial Highway · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    Honors Texas DPS Trooper Bill Davidson, killed April 14, 1992, during a traffic stop on US-59 in Jackson County by Ronald Ray Howard. The case sparked a landmark civil suit by Davidson's widow against Tupac Shakur and…

  • Gibson, Henry [Monk] · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Henry "Monk" Gibson, born around 1889, was the convicted murderer of members of the Conditt family of Edna, Texas, on September 28, 1905. Gibson, a Black teenager, was employed by J. F. Conditt to plow his field when…

  • Green, Rufus, Sr. · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Rufus Green, Sr., African-American champion calf roper and horse trainer, was born near Edna, Texas, on March 30, 1923. He attended school only through the elementary grade level. When he was fifteen years old, he found…

  • Hernandez v. State of Texas · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    The first and only Mexican-American civil-rights case heard and decided by the United States Supreme Court during the post-World War II period was Hernández v. the State of Texas. In 1950 Pete Hernández, a migrant…

  • Camp Bowie · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Jackson County, not far from Edna. Right here, in the spring of 1837, was Camp Bowie, the main encampment for the Army of the Republic of Texas. It was named for the legendary Alamo defender,…

  • White, Francis Menefee · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Jackson County, Texas, a place that saw some intense early days. Right here, Francis Menefee White was a key figure. He arrived in 1830, married, and by 1835, was a lieutenant in the Texas army.…

  • Wood, John Howland · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through what used to be wild Texas frontier country. Right here, in what's now Jackson County, John Howland Wood started his ranching empire. He arrived in Texas in 1836, just in time to fight at San…

  • Edna, TX · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Edna, a town born from a railroad rivalry. Back in 1881, the New York, Texas and Mexican Railway, nicknamed the 'Macaroni Line,' bypassed Texana, the old county seat. To get the railroad, Mrs.…

  • Horton, George F., Home · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're cruising through Edna, and just ahead is the former home of George F. Horton. Horton was a Confederate veteran who also served as a businessman and postmaster. He built this house back in 1876, but it wasn't…

  • Lavaca-Navidad River Authority · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Jackson County, home to the Lavaca-Navidad River Authority. Established in 1959, this agency was originally known as the Jackson County Flood Control District. Its main job? To manage the storms…

  • Bronaugh-Hasdorff Home · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Bronaugh-Hasdorff Home, built in 1866 in Texana. That's right here in Jackson County. This house was constructed by Dr. J. M. Bronaugh, who used Florida heart pine and square nails for its build.…

  • La Bauve-Young-Payne Home · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're cruising through Edna, and right here is a house built to last. This home, constructed in 1888, is a testament to old-school craftsmanship, featuring cypress and Texas heart pine, all held together with square…

Show all 110 nearby places
  • Confederates of Jackson County · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    From 1860 population of 2612 came more than 100 Civil War soldiers, one an infantryman on a crutch: M. K. Simons, a Mexican war amputee, brigade quartermaster, 2nd Texas infantry, C. S. A. Officers included Capt. C. L.…

  • Jackson County, Early · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Jackson County, a place with a history stretching back centuries. Long before Texas was Texas, this was the hunting ground of the Karankawa, a tribe known for their survival skills. In 1528, the…

  • Jackson County · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Jackson County, a place with a history stretching back to the Karankawa Indians. This land was granted to Stephen F. Austin and Martin de Leon, and by the 1820s, colonists were arriving from…

  • Jackson County, C. S. A. · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Edna, the heart of Jackson County. Back in 1861, this county voted overwhelmingly to join the Confederacy, 147 to 77. They became a vital supply line for the South, providing beef and cotton. Look…

  • Macaroni Station · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Macaroni Station, a name that might make you chuckle. This was a key camp and commissary during the construction of the New York, Texas & Mexican Railway back in the early 1880s. The…

  • Mission Nuestra Senora del Espiritu Santo de Zuniga · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Jackson County, where a piece of Texas's early Spanish colonial history once stood. Look around for the site of Mission Nuestra Señora del Espíritu Santo de Zúñiga. Established in <say-as…

  • John Sutherland Menefee · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past John Sutherland Menefee. San Jacinto veteran; member of the Congress of Texas 1837-40. Born in Tennessee June 24, 1813; died November 4, 1884. Erected by the State of Texas 1937

  • Brackenridge Cemetery · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker

    Among family members buried there: John A. Brackenridge (1800-62), a Warrick County, Ind., neighbor from whom young Abraham Lincoln borrowed law brooks, 1855 founder of Texana Presbyterian Church; his son, George W.…

  • Lavaca-Navidad Meeting of 1835 · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Jackson County, near Edna, and you're passing the site of a crucial early step towards Texas independence. On July 17, 1835, pioneers gathered at William Millican's cotton gin for the…

  • Dutart-McDowell Home · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past what remains of a home built in Texana around 1860, later moved to Edna. This house was a gathering place for many of Edna's first families and stands as a great example of homes from that era. It's…

  • Traylor, J. C., Old, Place · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the J. C. Traylor Old Place, the very first home built in Edna back in 1879. It wasn't just a house; it was a lifeline. Traylor kept a spare room ready and an extra plate at the table for any…

  • George Washington Carver School · 0.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the George Washington Carver School, once known as the Edna Colored School. Imagine the students here in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1912</say-as>, graduating from the very…

  • Texana Presbyterian Church · 0.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Edna, and if you look closely, you might glimpse a piece of history from a town that's now just a ghost. This building was originally the Texana Presbyterian Church, founded way back in 1855 by…

  • Edna Mexican School · 1.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving by the site of the old Edna Mexican School. For decades, Mexican-American children in this area were educated separately, often for only six months a year, and many had to leave school early to help their…

  • Branch and Bonnot House · 1.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Branch and Bonnot House, built way back in 1861 by Sarah Wiseman. Since 1867, this place has kept open house for folks in the lower bay country, thanks to the Branch and Bonnot heirs. It's a…

  • Texana rolled here on oxen and logs · 1.7 mi

    The very existence of Edna is because of a ghost town. Before 1882, the seat of Jackson County was Texana, a thriving river port a few miles from here. But when the New York, Texas and Mexican Railway surveyed its…

  • Edna, TX · 1.7 mi

    The 1954 Supreme Court case Hernandez v. Texas, which concerned the racial context of jury selection for a trial that took place in Edna, was a landmark decision determining that Mexican Americans and all other racial…

  • The Railroad That Erased a Town · 1.7 mi

    The location of Edna is a direct result of 19th-century transportation engineering. In September 1881 the New York, Texas and Mexican Railway — promoted and built by an Italian count named Joseph Telfener — began laying…

  • The Soil Series Named for This Town · 1.7 mi

    The dirt under Edna has an official name in the federal soil books -- the Edna series, named for this exact town. It formed in loamy sediment laid down by a mix of ancient rivers and the sea -- soil scientists call that…

  • Hurricane Carla's Fury · 1.7 mi

    In September 1961, one of the most powerful hurricanes in U.S. history made landfall on the Texas coast, and Edna was right in its path. Carla came ashore at Port O'Connor on the eleventh with winds near 170 miles an…

  • The Flag City of Texas · 1.7 mi

    As you look around Edna, you'll notice a lot of flags. There's a good reason for that. Edna calls itself the Flag City of Texas, and it isn't just a line on the letterhead - it's an identity the town picked up and never…

  • Site of Camp Independence · 2.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Camp Independence, a crucial military post for the young Texas Republic. From December of 1836 to May of 1837, this was home to soldiers under the command of future legends like General…

  • Stapp, Elijah · 3.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through what was once Jackson County, Texas, a place that played a small but crucial role in the Texas Revolution. Right here, Elijah Stapp, a settler from Virginia, arrived in DeWitt's colony around…

  • McCulloch, Samuel, Jr. · 3.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Samuel McCulloch (McCullough, McCullock), Jr., free Black soldier in the Texas Revolution , was born in the Abbeville District of South Carolina on October 11, 1810. He moved with his White father, Samuel McCulloch,…

  • Usher, Patrick · 3.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Patrick Usher, jurist and soldier, was born in 1801 in Ireland. He immigrated to Texas from Hanover County, North Carolina, in May 1835 and joined the Texas army at Gonzales on April 16, 1836. After some service…

  • Fisher, William S. · 3.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Jackson County, where William S. Fisher made his home. Fisher arrived in Texas in 1834, settling in Gonzales. He fought in the Battle of San Jacinto, then served as Secretary of War for the…

  • Jackson County · 3.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Jackson County, a place where the very first recorded encounter between Europeans and Texas Indians happened. <break time="400ms"/> In 1528, survivors of the ill-fated Pánfilo de Narváez…

  • Menefee, John Sutherland · 3.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Jackson County, and right here is where John Sutherland Menefee lived and served Texas. He first saw action in 1832, fighting local Indians at the Battle of Sandy Creek. Just a few years later, in…

  • Old Station · 3.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through what is now Jackson County, and right here, about six miles up the Lavaca River, was Old Station. It started in 1825, not really as a town, but as a temporary stop for settlers heading into…

  • Owen, Clark Lewis · 3.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through what was once Texana, a town that played a role in Texas history thanks to men like Clark Lewis Owen. Owen left a business in Kentucky in 1836 to fight for Texas independence, serving in key…

  • Sutherland, George · 3.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Jackson County, and right here, George Sutherland was fighting for Texas independence. Born sometime between 1787 and 1788, he moved to Texas in 1830. By 1832, he was a key player, organizing…

  • Wells, Francis Flournoy · 3.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Jackson County, near the Lavaca-Navidad River. Right here, in what was once the bustling town of Texana, lived Dr. Francis Flournoy Wells. He was one of Stephen F. Austin's original colonists,…

  • White, Samuel Addison · 3.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Jackson County, and right here is where Samuel Addison White settled in 1830. He wasn't just a farmer, though. White fought in the Texas Revolution, served as a captain, and even took part in the…

  • Morales, TX · 3.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Morales is on State Highway 111 in northwestern Jackson County. After the arrival of settlers from the United States, the area was part of the Jonathan Vess grant from the Mexican government. The town, originally called…

  • Texana, TX · 3.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    In 1832 Dr. Francis F. Wells and his sister-in-law, Pamelia McNutt Porter, founded a community in south central Jackson County that later developed into Texana. The village was originally named Santa Anna after Antonio…

  • Lake Texana · 3.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Jackson County, near the historic town of Texana. Right here is Lake Texana, formed by the massive Palmetto Bend Dam. Approved by Congress back in <say-as interpret-as="date"…

  • La Salle, TX (Jackson County) · 3.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    La Salle is on Farm Road 616 and the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway in southwestern Jackson County. In 1875 J. M. Bennett, with brothers Sol and Ike West, founded a ranch on a large spread purchased from John…

  • Red Bluff, TX (Jackson County) · 3.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Red Bluff (Redbluff) overlooked the east bank of the Navidad River eleven miles southeast of Edna in Jackson County. Before the arrival of European settlers, Karankawa Indians camped on the elevated ground above the…

  • Stapp, Elijah · 5.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Edna, Texas, and the name Elijah Stapp might ring a bell. He was one of the brave souls who signed the Texas Declaration of Independence back in 1836. Born in Virginia in 1783, Stapp made his way…

  • Site of William Millican's Gin House · 5.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of William Millican's Gin House, but this spot is famous for something much bigger than cotton. On July 17th, 1835, right here, Texans held the Lavaca-Navidad Meeting. Led by James Kerr,…

  • Site of the Johnston-Huston Duel · 6.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of a dramatic duel that took place right here on February 5, 1837. Two prominent Texas leaders, General Albert Sidney Johnston and General Felix Huston, faced off. Johnston took a serious…

  • Trooper Bill Davidson Memorial Highway · 6.4 mi · Historical Marker

    The southbound side of US Highway Fifty Nine in Jackson County, between mile markers six eighteen and six twenty, is named for Trooper Bill Davidson. On the night of the eleventh of April, nineteen ninety two, Davidson…

  • Site of the Old Town of Texana · 6.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Old Texana, a town that played a big role in early Texas history. Founded way back in 1834 by Dr. F. F. Wells, a friend of Stephen F. Austin himself, Texana served as the county seat for…

  • White, Francis Menefee · 6.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Edna, and just ahead is a marker for Francis Menefee White. White was born in Tennessee way back in 1811, and he fought in the Texas Revolution. You can see his marker here, commemorating his role…

  • Kerr, Major James · 7.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Edna, and just ahead is the site of a true Texas pioneer. Major James Kerr, born in Kentucky, fought in the War of 1812 before coming to Texas. He was a surveyor, a doctor, and a politician,…

  • Enon Cemetery · 7.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Enon Cemetery, a place that marks a significant 'first' for Jackson County. In <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1856</say-as>, Reverend Joseph I. Loudermilk established Enon Baptist…

  • Rogers, Samuel C. A. · 7.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Ganado, and right here is the resting place of Samuel C. A. Rogers. He was a soldier in the Texas army, fighting in the Siege of San Antonio back in 1835. That was a pivotal moment in the Texas…

  • Ganado, TX · 9.1 mi

    The name Ganado has an interesting origin. It was not chosen by the city's early settlers but by a railroad official who, in 1882, looked out the window of a train car and saw a large herd of cattle. Inspired by the…

  • First United Methodist Church of Ganado · 9.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Ganado's First United Methodist Church. Methodists began meeting in the area as early as 1880, with services held in brush arbors and log chapels that also served as schools. The…

  • Ganado · 9.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Ganado, a town that owes its very existence to the railroad. Back in 1882, the New York, Texas & Mexican Railroad needed a stop, and this spot became its shipping point. A railroad official,…

  • The Barber Who Waited · 9.3 mi

    On February twenty-eighth, nineteen fifty seven, Ed Kacer opened a barber shop in Ganado, and his life as a Ganado Indians fan began. Kacer's Barber Shop became football headquarters. On Saturday mornings after a game,…

  • Little School of the 400 · 9.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through South Texas, maybe near Ganado, where a groundbreaking idea took root in the summer of 1957. It was called the Little School of the 400, a bold initiative by Felix Tijerina and the League of…

  • Steinke, Gilbert Ervin [Gil] · 9.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through South Texas, maybe near Ganado, and you're passing through country that shaped a Texas legend: Gil Steinke. Born in 1919, Steinke wasn't just a football player—he was a trailblazer. After playing…

  • Tijerina, Felix · 9.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Jackson County, maybe near Ganado. Right here, in the summer of 1957, an experiment began that would change education for thousands of Texas children. Felix Tijerina, a successful Houston…

  • Flores, Patricio Férnandez [Patrick] · 9.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Patricio "Patrick" Férnandez Flores, the first Mexican American bishop and archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States, and activist for the Mexican American community, was born to migrant farmworkers…

  • Rogers, Samuel C. A. · 9.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Jackson County, and right here is the area where Samuel C. A. Rogers made his mark. He arrived in Texas in 1831, a soldier and a preacher who would face down Native American tribes like the Lipan…

  • Ganado, TX · 9.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Ganado, a town with a name that means 'herd' in Spanish. It all started back in the early 1880s when the railroad came through. An official, looking out his train window at a large group of…

  • Ganado High School — State Softball 2026 · 9.4 mi

    Ganado High School in Ganado, Texas qualified for the 2026 UIL state softball championships, reaching the state tournament (final four) in Class two A, Division One.

  • 2024 UIL 2A Division 1 Football State Champions · 9.4 mi

    Ganado High School (Ganado, TX): Most recent: 30-28 3OT over Stamford · 2024 2A Division 1 final.

  • The 'Macaroni Line' · 9.4 mi

    The railroad that gave Ganado its start had one of the best nicknames in Texas history: the 'Macaroni Line.' Officially, it was the New York, Texas and Mexican Railway, but its story is distinctly Italian. The project…

  • The Wrath of Hurricane Carla · 9.4 mi

    In September 1961, Ganado faced one of its greatest tests. Hurricane Carla, one of the most powerful storms in U.S. history, slammed into the Texas coast just 40 miles away at Port O'Connor. Though Ganado was inland, it…

  • Engineering the Perfect Flood · 9.4 mi

    The vast, flat rice fields around Ganado look natural, but they are actually a marvel of agricultural engineering. The secret to growing rice here lies in a unique combination of geology and technology. The local soil…

  • Ganado, TX · 9.4 mi

    Ganado, originally known as Mustang Settlement, was a ranching community when it was first settled. The name Ganado, meaning 'cattle' in Spanish, was given in 1882 by a railroad official who saw a large herd of cattle.…

  • Building a New Bohemia · 9.4 mi

    Ganado started as a cattle stop - a railroad man looked out his car window at a big herd and named the place with the Spanish word for it. But the town that grew here was built by immigrants. A second wave of settlement…

  • Fort St. Louis · 10.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through the area where France once planted a flag in Texas! Back in 1685, explorer La Salle established Fort St. Louis, the very first French settlement in the state. But this outpost didn't last long. It…

  • Inez, TX · 10.0 mi

    Inez might seem like just another quiet spot along the Texas coastal plain, but it's got a story to tell.

  • Saint Joseph Catholic Church · 10.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Inez, a town with roots stretching back to 1858. That's when Polish immigrants, fleeing Prussian-occupied Poland, settled this prairie land after a short stay in Karnes County. They first called…

  • Saint Joseph Catholic Cemetery · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Saint Joseph Catholic Cemetery, a final resting place with a story of community and migration. The Catholic presence here began around 1873 in the town of Gazeta, with land donated by…

  • Morales Store, Old · 10.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Old Morales Store, a true survivor! Built in the early 1860s from rough pine, this place has been a local gathering spot for over a century and a half. Imagine the conversations, the deals, and…

  • Koontz Ranch · 11.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Victoria County, not far from Inez, where you're passing the historic Koontz Ranch. Founded in 1870 by Henry Clay Koontz, Sr., this ranch became internationally famous for its Brahman cattle.…

  • Inez, TX · 11.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving northeast of Victoria, and right here is the town of Inez. It wasn't always called Inez, though. This spot was originally named Arenosa, and it was a small community with a post office back in the 1850s.…

  • Lolita, TX · 11.4 mi

    Lolita, Texas, has a rich history that dates back to the 1840s when Isaac N. Mitchell first settled the area and ran a plantation. The town was officially established in 1909 and named after Lolita Reese, the…

  • Bennett & West Ranch · 11.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the historic lands of the Bennett & West Ranch, a huge cattle operation that started right here in Jackson County back in 1875. John M. Bennett, a seasoned cattle driver who made his fortune on the…

  • Lolita, TX · 11.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Jackson County, and right here is the town of Lolita. It owes its name to a young girl, Lolita Reese, granddaughter of a Texas Revolution veteran. The townsite was laid out in 1909, named in her…

  • The Town on the Cattle King's Pasture · 14.4 mi

    Picture this whole stretch of southern Jackson County as open pasture, because that is what it was. This was rancher Lafayette Ward's country, and the older settlement nearby was called Red Bluff. Then in 1904 the St.…

  • La Ward, TX · 14.4 mi

    In 1904, the community of La Ward emerged on the coastal prairie with the arrival of the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway. It was named in honor of Lafayette Ward, a local figure who played a pivotal role in…

  • Salem · 16.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through what used to be Salem, a community planned out in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1910</say-as> by the Higginson Colonization Company. Settlers arrived from states like Ohio and…

  • You Are No Jack Kennedy: The Bentsen Highway · 16.1 mi

    U.S. Highway Fifty Nine, from Interstate Forty Five to Interstate Thirty Five, is the Senator Lloyd Bentsen Highway, named by the Legislature in nineteen ninety five. Bentsen was born in Mission in nineteen twenty one…

  • The Name That Means Hope · 16.6 mi

    You are standing in Nada, Texas, and if your high school Spanish is kicking in, you are already sure this place is named nothing. It is a fair guess. It is also wrong. Nada is not Spanish here. Before it was Nada, the…

  • So Let's Talk About Spanish Nada · 16.6 mi

    Here in Nada, Texas, the name begs one obvious question, so let's actually talk about the Spanish word nada for a minute, because nearly everyone who drives through here assumes that is the source. In Spanish, nada does…

  • How Nothing Became a Number · 16.6 mi

    You are driving through Nada, Texas, a town whose name only sounds like the Spanish word for nothing. Since that name keeps circling the idea of nothing, here is a genuine tangent worth the detour, and it happens far…

  • From Voice of the People to Hope · 16.6 mi

    Before the post office stamped Nada on the map, folks here answered to a much grander name. This settlement was first called Vox Populi, straight out of Latin, meaning the voice of the people. It comes from an old…

  • The Nothing That Isn't Empty · 16.6 mi

    You are still rolling through Nada, Texas, a town that only sounds like it is named for nothing. One more lane on that idea of nothing, then we get back to the road. Ask a physicist for true empty space and you will…

  • One Small Sign, Everything But Nothing · 16.6 mi

    So here is everything a four-letter sign can hold. You rolled into Nada braced for a joke, a town named nothing. Instead the name is Czech, an Americanized spelling of najda, hope, chosen by farm families who had…

  • Frelsburg Families and a Prairie Church · 16.6 mi

    Right here in Nada, Texas, the obvious question is where the town itself came from. Pull the thread and you land on a handful of families. According to the historical marker out front of the Catholic church, John…

  • The Czech Belt of Texas · 16.6 mi

    Nada does not stand alone. It sits inside what you might call the Czech belt of Texas, a scatter of communities settled by immigrants who left the old Austro-Hungarian lands in the eighteen hundreds. Nearby Frelsburg,…

  • Coastal Prairie and the Highway Shuffle · 16.6 mi

    Look around at where you actually are. Nada sits in southern Colorado County, out on the flat coastal prairie that rolls down toward the Gulf. This is farm country, cotton land in the old days and rice country as you…

  • Louise State Bank · 16.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Louise State Bank, chartered in 1909. This two-story brick building served the growing town until 1927, when it was bought out. Interestingly, this very building also housed the…

  • Louise, TX · 17.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Louise, Texas, a town with a name that sounds like it belongs to a grand dame, and in a way, it does. This place owes its existence to a railroad, the "Macaroni Line," built in the early 1880s. It…

  • Crowell, Marion Wesley (Baldy) · 17.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the area where Marion Wesley 'Baldy' Crowell lived after his military service. Born in DeSoto, Baldy served with distinction in World War I, fighting with the 111th Engineers in France. After the…

  • Louise Methodist Church · 17.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Louise, a town that sprang up along the railroad back in 1881. Just ten years later, in 1891, a missionary gathered local Methodists to form their own congregation. They built their first church…

  • Shanghai Pierce - Cattle Baron · 17.3 mi · Historical Marker

    Abel Head 'Shanghai' Pierce was one of the most colorful cattle barons in Texas history, building a ranching empire in Matagorda and Wharton counties and commissioning a life-size statue of himself.

  • Louise, TX · 17.4 mi

    Louise, Texas, began as a station on a newly built railroad in 1881. The area quickly became known for its suitability for rice growing, and other crops and oil and gas production soon followed. The population peaked in…

  • Shillerville Cemetery · 18.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Victoria County, where the story of Shillerville begins. This quiet cemetery holds the memories of Czech immigrants who settled here starting in 1894. The community was named for Jan Shiller, one…

  • 201st Fighter Squadron, Mexican Expeditionary Air Force (The Aztec Eagles) · 19.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Victoria, Texas, where history took flight during World War II. Mexico, after German U-boats sank its oil tankers, declared war on the Axis powers. They partnered with the U.S. to train pilots here,…

  • Foster Army Air Field · 19.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Foster Army Air Field, a vital training ground during World War II. Construction began in 1941, just months before Pearl Harbor, to prepare pilots and gunners for aerial combat. Named for…

  • Ward-Coates Home · 19.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Ward-Coates Home in La Ward. This ranch house was built in the 1860s by Lafayette Ward, Sr. He was a pioneer rancher who first arrived in Texas way back in 1836, coming all the way…

  • Don Martin De Leon · 19.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the area where Don Martin de Leon established his successful empresario colony, second only to Stephen F. Austin's. He received his grant in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1824</say-as>,…

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