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Hallettsville, Texas

Everything Hallettsville is known for

7 songs mention this city 3 artists from here

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

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Music in Hallettsville

Songs About Hallettsville

Goodbye Houston, Hello Hallettsville
Eric Woodring
90%
"Goodbye Houston, hello Hallettsville"
Hallettsville
Indianola Railroad Co.
80%
"Hallettsville"
Going To Hallettsville
Chris Rybak
78%
"Going To Hallettsville"
The Armadillo Jackal
Robert Earl Keen
54%
"They pay two-fifty down in Hallettsville"
Just Outside of Hallettsville
The Drunken Hawks
26%
"Just Outside of Hallettsville"
Just Outside of Hallettsville (Rust and Jadi Jo)
The Drunken Hawks
23%
"Just Outside of Hallettsville"
88 Miles out of Hallettsville
Steven Garcia
2%
"88 Miles out of Hallettsville"

Artists From Hallettsville

C
Chris Rybak
polka
R
Ryan Thompson Band
country
R
Reagan Hicks
country

Rivers & Roads in Song near Hallettsville

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

US Route 90 9 songs Interstate 10 36 songs Guadalupe River 18 songs Texas Colorado River 6 songs Texas State Highway 71 2 songs U.S. Route 59 9 songs

Musical Heritage

The Biggest Fiddle Contest in the World, in a Czech Catholic Hall RoadyGoat

Every April, fiddlers from across the country and beyond pour into Hallettsville for the Texas State Championship Fiddlers' Frolics, billed as the largest fiddlers' contest in the world. It started in 1971 as a fundraiser to build the Knights of Columbus Hall, where it's still held, and it grew straight out of this county's deep Czech-Moravian Catholic roots. The rules keep it pure: acoustic instruments only, no more than four accompanists per fiddler. Players compete across divisions including a seniors bracket for those 65 and up, the Forest H. Craig freshman division for kids 15 and younger, an out-of-state class, the Texas-only state championship, and a crowd-judged Anything Goes round that rewards the most acrobatic showmanship. Inside the hall hangs the Texas Fiddlers Hall of Fame, founded in 1977, whose walls trace the lineage of Texas-style fiddling; its honor roll includes fiddle legend Eck Robertson and Bob Wills. For three days the dominoes, kolaches, barbecue, and bow strokes all run together. (Source: Handbook of Texas.)

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The Bugler Who Blew a Charge in a Union Prison RoadyGoat

Louis Turner left Hallettsville as chief bugler of Whitfield's Legion, which means his job in a battle was to be heard over it. He was at Iuka and came out of it wounded in the side with five bullet holes through his coat. At the second fight at Corinth he was captured on the Hatchie River and taken to Bolivar, Tennessee. Second day in the prison, some of the boys asked him to play reveille. Being, as his biographer put it, always full of sport, he did. And then he blew a charge. In a prison. Later, exchanged and back in the fight in Arkansas, he was shot in the leg before the line had even formed up, the bone broken and the horse killed under him.

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History of Hallettsville

Eight Dollars of Tools and a Fifteen Thousand Dollar Bonus RoadyGoat

A. Levytansky got to Texas in 1882 from Russian Poland, seventeen years old, and started at Luling with eight dollars worth of jeweller's tools. He would not work for anyone else. By late 1883 he had moved to Hallettsville and was making his own stock rather than buying it. Now here is why this town should remember him. When the San Antonio and Aransas Pass was choosing where to lay track, Levytansky is the man who raised the fifteen thousand dollar bonus that bought Hallettsville a railroad. Towns that missed out on that kind of subscription got bypassed and died. He also brought his brothers over one at a time and set each of them up in a different town. It did not end well for all of them. One brother, running a jewellery store at Laredo, was robbed and shot dead in December of 1911. A burglar was tried for it, convicted, and hanged.

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The Widow Who Built a Town on the Lavaca RoadyGoat

This town carries a woman's name, which was rare in 1838. John Hallett, an English-born sea merchant, took a league of land in Stephen F. Austin's colony on the east bank of the Lavaca River around 1831. When he died in 1836, his widow Margaret Leatherbury Hallett did not retreat. She moved onto the property, set up a trading post, raised horses under her own brand, and bartered corn, hides, and pelts with both settlers and the Tonkawa, even picking up a working vocabulary of their language. Legend says Chief Lolo gave her the nickname Brave Squaw after she stood her ground in a dispute over goods. In 1838 Margaret donated the land beside her trading post for a townsite, and the place was named Hallettsville in her honor, not her late husband's. Born in Virginia on Christmas Day 1787, she lived to see the town fight for and win the county seat, and she died in 1863. Her grave in City Memorial Park still calls her the founder of Hallettsville. (Source: Handbook of Texas.)

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They Took the County Records by Force of Arms RoadyGoat

When Lavaca County organized in 1846, the courthouse stood not here but in Petersburg, a few miles southwest. Hallettsville wanted the seat of government, and so began one of Texas's rowdier county-seat fights. In an election on June 14, 1852, Hallettsville won a majority, but Petersburg refused to hand over the county records, the legal lifeblood of any county. According to the accounts, only by force of arms were the men of Hallettsville able to ride in and liberate those records, carrying them back here where they have stayed ever since. The town was formally declared county seat on August 28, 1852, though the lawsuits dragged on until a final ruling settled the matter in 1860. Petersburg never recovered. Stripped of its courthouse, it withered into a ghost town, and by 1880 little more than a single establishment remained. The records you'd find in the courthouse downtown sit where they do because somebody once came and got them. (Source: Handbook of Texas.)

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Hallett, Margaret Leatherbury

1818

Margaret Leatherbury (Letherbury, Leatherberry) Hallett was born on December 25, 1787, in Stafford County, Virginia. At the age of eighteen she fell in love with John Hallett, an English-born merchant seaman, whom her well-to-do family considered an unsuitable match. In 1808 she left home and joined him in Baltimore. They were married aboard ship in Chesapeake Bay and lived in Baltimore for several years before moving west. Their first two sons were born in 1813 and 1815 in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, where the Halletts operated a store until it was confiscated by the Mexican government. They then moved to Goliad, Texas, and set up a trading post. There a third son was born in 1818 and a daughter in 1822. The Halletts were still living in Goliad in 1833, when John took a league of land in Stephen F. Austin 's colony on the east bank of the Lavaca River in what is now Lavaca County. He brought workers and building materials from Goliad to construct a cabin, but not long after it was completed he died and was buried in Goliad. After the Runaway Scrape Margaret and her daughter, her only surviving child, moved onto the Hallett league. Margaret turned the cabin into a store and traded for pelts and hides with the Tonkawa Indians and the White settlers, who were beginning to fill up the area; she then had the hides carted to Gonzales and exchanged for corn. She had a field cleared for a crop, raised horses under her own brand, and acquired a basic vocabulary in Tonkawa. Legend credits her with raising a lump on the head of a Tonkawa who attempted to help himself to merchandise. Chief Lolo is said to have rewarded her with the nickname Brave Squaw and with honorary tribal membership. In 1838 Margaret Hallett donated land adjoining her trading post for a townsite, which was named Hallettsville in her honor. She built a new home there and promoted the town vigorously. In 1842 the legislature authorized the establishment of a judicial county to be named La Baca, which later became Lavaca County. County and district court sessions were held in the Hallett home pending the selection of a county seat. Hallettsville and the older town of Petersburg were contesting for the honor; some sources report that Margaret Hallett was instrumental in having the county records moved from Petersburg to Hallettsville in the early 1850s and seeing that they remained there. In 1852 she gave the building site for Alma Male and Female Institute and helped organize the new institution. She died in 1863 and was buried on the Hallett league. Later her remains were transferred to City Memorial Park, where a grave marker acknowledges her as the founder of Hallettsville.

Tsha Handbook →

Arthur Pendleton Bagby

1852

(May 17, 1833 - February 21, 1921) Star and Wreath Native Alabamian, last surviving member of West Point class of 1852, lawyer, colonel in 7th Texas Confederate Cavalry, participant in Sibley's New Mexico campaign, commanded volunteer land troops on board Confederate ship Neptune during Battle of Galveston, wounded and commended for role in engagement near Berwick Bay in Louisiana, led brigade at battles of Mansfield and Pleasant Hill in Louisiana, major-general in Confederate Army. Buried in city cemetery, Hallettsville. 1963

Historical Marker →

William Smothers

1775

(1760-1837) A Veteran of the American Revolution. A native of Virginia, William Smothers was orphaned at 12 when Indians killed his father, and his mother died of shock. In the American Revolution, he fought at King's Mountain, Guilford Courthouse, Camden, and Eutaw Springs. He moved to Kentucky in 1781, built two forts near present Hartford, originally called "Smothers Station," and in 1798 founded an Ohio river port that later became Owensboro. He was a leader in civil affairs in early Kentucky, was a militia captain, and commanded troops in the War of 1812. Smothers Park in Owensboro is named in his honor. 
 Smothers scouted in Texas before 1820, returned in 1821 with the exploring party of Stephen F. Austin, and helped build Fort Bend for the safety of the "Old 300" settlers. In 1824 Mexico gave him a land grant; in 1826, he and two sons helped settle DeWitt's Colony, receiving land grants in the vicinity of this marker. Fearless and a skillful guide, he often hunted with his friend Jim Bowie. Reputedly he tomahawked bears in hand combat. Married twice, he was ancestor of many leading Texans. He died in 1837, after seeing a son and three grandsons help to win the Texas War for Independence. (1977)

Historical Marker →

Jack, Spencer Houston

1831

Spencer Houston Jack, Austin colony pioneer, lawyer, and revolutionist, the eighth of twelve children of Patrick and Harriet (Spencer) Jack, was born in Wilkes County, Georgia, on April 13, 1809. He accompanied his brother William H. and William's family to Texas in 1830. They located in San Felipe de Austin. Jack was the first colonist to draw Mexican blood in resistance to Mexican authority. On November 24, 1831, George Fisher ordered shipmasters to obtain clearance at Anahuac before sailing from the Brazos and certain other ports. Compliance for a vessel docked on the lower Brazos necessitated an overland journey of 200 miles or more, round-trip. On December 15, 1831, the Sabine , commanded by Capt. Jeremiah Brown , ran past the Mexican barracks at the mouth of the Brazos with cotton bales arranged on deck to protect the passengers and crew. The Mexican fusillade damaged only the ship's rigging. The Nelson , under Capt. Samuel Fuller, following in the Sabine's wake, also drew fire that slightly wounded Captain Fuller, who then called for his rifle, which Jack, a passenger, seized and fired, wounding one of the soldiers in the thigh. On Christmas Day the Spica , commanded by Capt. Isaiah Doane of Boston, also sailed from the Brazos without clearance. Gen. Manuel de Mier y Terán issued an order to arrest Jack and thus prevented his immediate return to Texas. In June 1832 Jack marched with his brother William on Anahuac to demand the release of their brother Patrick C. Jack and William Barret Travis and others imprisoned there by order of Col. John (Juan) Davis Bradburn . Years later, Jack gave Mirabeau B. Lamar an interesting written account of his activities during the Anahuac Disturbances . On April 20, 1833, Jack was issued title to one-fourth league of land in Austin's second colony in what is now Lavaca County. At Bexar, on September 23, 1833, after a complaint filed against Jack the same day by Oliver Jones , "Deputy of this State," Manuel Ximenes (first regidor and acting alcalde ruled that Jack had "offended with a cutting instrument." Jack had cut Jones on the nose. Early in 1834 Samuel M. Williams appointed Jack as his agent for settling families in the "upper colony," which had been granted to Williams and Stephen F. Austin by the legislature of Coahuila and Texas on February 25, 1831. Jack thus opened a land office at Tenoxtitlán in March 1834. The grant, however, was revoked on May 22, 1834, and Williams, then in New Orleans, instructed Jack to go to Monclova to reopen the case. Additionally, Jack and Peter W. Grayson , both lawyers, were commissioned to continue to Mexico City to present memorials from the ayuntamientos of Texas requesting the release of Stephen F. Austin, who was then imprisoned there. They left San Felipe on August 10, 1834, accompanying Col. Juan N. Almonte , an aide to President Antonio López de Santa Anna , who was making an overland return from his inspection tour of Texas. Jack was unable to achieve much at Monclova. Likewise, he and Grayson failed to get Austin freed, though they did bring about his release on bail on Christmas Day, 1834. By the end of December Jack had returned to San Felipe. During the final days of the 1835 legislative session, Governor Agustín Viesca restored the upper colony to Williams, who again designated Jack as his agent for receiving applications for land. On September 20, 1835, Jack received title to ten leagues of land under the terms of Decree 278, passed by the legislature of Coahuila and Texas on April 19, 1834, which provided for the sale of land to mobilize a frontier force against Indian attack. Jack had an interest in cargo aboard the schooner Martha , which was seized at Galveston Bay by the Mexican warship Moctezuma on May 3, 1835, taken to Veracruz, and condemned. He was a participant in the siege of Bexar . On October 28, 1835, he and George Huff wrote from Gonzales to the "President of the Council at San Felipe," criticizing Sam Houston 's effort

Tsha Handbook → · 4.4 mi away

McGonagill, Henry Clay

1879

Clay McGonagill (McGonegill, McGonigle, or McGonagil), rodeo cowboy, was born on September 24, 1879, in Sweet Home, Lavaca County, Texas, the youngest of six children of George M. and E. C. McGonagill. When he was four the family moved to the vicinity of Midland, where his father raised the Billy and steeldust breeds of quarter horse . The young McGonagill spent his early years on the ranch learning to ride and rope his father's horses. When not working for his father, Clay traveled through West Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona cowboying for ranches in the area. He was a personable and genial fellow, yet he possessed an ornery side. Any chance for formal education was cut short in 1897 when Clay and a friend, Joe Gardner, threatened to kill the school principal and a grade school teacher after a fight with the school superintendent. In 1907 he was charged with horse theft, though the charges were later dropped and Clay won a "malicious prosecution" suit. In March 1912 charges were filed in the district court of Gaines County against him for "robbery with firearms" of a bank in Seminole. Allegedly, Clay and notorious outlaw Tom Ross perpetrated the offense, but charges were later dropped against Clay, apparently for lack of evidence. As a rodeo cowboy, herding and roping steers for prize money throughout the western United States and as far away as England and South America, Clay fast established himself as the world's best steer roper. In 1902 he accompanied legendary cowboy humorist Will Rogers and other cowboys to Montevideo, Uruguay, for the First International Rodeo. Legend had Clay McGonagill winning more than 500 roping contests in his day. He set several records over a period of time for steer roping, time and again besting his own marks. He was a colorful character willing to take on all comers in steer roping competitions, known around the turn of the century as "fairgroundings." In July 1907 he challenged Bob Gentry, an Indian and popular Oklahoma champion, to a test of skill, claiming he could rope eleven steers to Gentry's ten in less time. After falling behind early, he proceeded to back up his brash talk with his roping skill and won the bet. In April of that same year he had set a record of 21½ seconds. In doing so, he won a unique bet for a gambler's wooden leg, which the fellow had wagered upon hearing Clay boast that he could break the record. After parading around the arena with his new prize, McGonagill returned the trophy to its needy owner. McGonagill married Annie Laurie Johnston on January 16, 1904. He had met her only four days earlier in San Antonio, where she was attending a boarding school. The couple had one son. Clay McGonagill was killed on October 24, 1921, while hauling a load of hay on the Papago Indian Reservation, near Sacaton, Arizona. He had stopped the wagon he was driving to clear the road of a steel power line. The line carried more than 11,000 volts, and Clay was killed instantly. He was inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1975.

Tsha Handbook → · 4.4 mi away

Galveston, Battle of

1863

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. Whitfield In memory of Lavaca Co. men who fought in the Civil War. Capt. James Walker Gen. John B. Magruder Col. Tom Green Col. Arthur P. Bagby Com. Leon Smith Co. G. W. H. H. Brazier Banners may be furled but heroism lives forever.

Historical Marker →

Things to Do in Hallettsville

historical 13.8 mi away
The Brewmaster from Egypt

Kosmos Spoetzl took one of the strangest paths to small-town Texas. Born in Bavaria he trained at brewmaster school in Germany then spent eight years brewing…
historical 13.8 mi away
The Only Female Brewery Owner in America

When Kosmos Spoetzl died in 1950 his daughter Cecile -- known as Miss Celie -- took over the brewery. She became the only female brewery owner in the entire…
food 13.8 mi away
Spoetzl Brewery

Home of Shiner beer since 1909. Free tours and tastings in tiny Shiner Texas.
quirky 13.8 mi away
The Beer That Tasted Like Medicine

In 1909 a group of homesick German and Czech farmers in tiny Shiner Texas pooled their money built a ramshackle brewery and tried to make beer that reminded…
quirky 13.9 mi away
When Hippies Discovered Shiner Beer

For its first 60 years Shiner Beer barely left the county. Then in the 1970s something unexpected happened. At the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin an…
historical 13.5 mi away
Surviving Prohibition with Near Beer and Ice

When Prohibition hit in 1920 most breweries across America shut their doors forever. Not Kosmos Spoetzl. He kept the Shiner brewery alive by officially…
quirky 13.8 mi away
The Shiner Hobo Band

After World War I the town of Shiner did what any proud small Texas town would do -- it formed a band. But not just any band. The Shiner Hobo Band dressed in…
historical 13.8 mi away
The Town That Swallowed Half Moon

Before Shiner existed there was a little community called Half Moon named for the peculiar crescent shape of the local timber. Half Moon had been around since…

Sports in Hallettsville

🏆 STATE CHAMPIONS Class 3A · Softball · 2022

Hallettsville Brahmas — 2022 UIL 3A Softball State Champions

Most recent: 2022 3A

Down in Lavaca County, Hallettsville High School fields a spirited Class 3A softball team, a true point of pride for the community. The Lady Brahmas have established a notable record in Texas high school softball, with their dedicated play reflecting the strong local support for athletic programs.

The Hallettsville softball program has reached the pinnacle of UIL competition, securing a state championship in 2022. This achievement underscores the consistent effort and competitive spirit found within this close-knit Texas town, known for its community involvement in school activities.

State titles
2022
Most recent
2022
Class
3A
The moment

The Hallettsville Lady Brahmas celebrated a significant milestone by winning the 3A state championship in 2022.

Sources: Wikipedia · UIL State Championship Archives · SI High School (ScoreBook Live)

Everything Near Hallettsville

431 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the nearest 200 are listed here — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

  • Eight Dollars of Tools and a Fifteen Thousand Dollar Bonus

    A. Levytansky got to Texas in 1882 from Russian Poland, seventeen years old, and started at Luling with eight dollars worth of jeweller's tools. He would not work for anyone else. By late 1883 he had moved to…

  • The Widow Who Built a Town on the Lavaca

    This town carries a woman's name, which was rare in 1838. John Hallett, an English-born sea merchant, took a league of land in Stephen F. Austin's colony on the east bank of the Lavaca River around 1831. When he died in…

  • They Took the County Records by Force of Arms

    When Lavaca County organized in 1846, the courthouse stood not here but in Petersburg, a few miles southwest. Hallettsville wanted the seat of government, and so began one of Texas's rowdier county-seat fights. In an…

  • Heiner's Romanesque Pile on the Square

    The courthouse anchoring the square is Lavaca County's fifth, and it was built to impress. Houston architect Eugene Heiner, who designed dozens of Texas courthouses and jails, gave Hallettsville a three-story Romanesque…

  • The Biggest Fiddle Contest in the World, in a Czech Catholic Hall

    Every April, fiddlers from across the country and beyond pour into Hallettsville for the Texas State Championship Fiddlers' Frolics, billed as the largest fiddlers' contest in the world. It started in 1971 as a…

  • Hallettsville, TX

    Hallettsville was founded by a group of German and Czech immigrants, who were mainly responsible for establishing the town. John Hallett, one of the early settlers, received a land grant from Stephen F. Austin in 1831.…

  • The Hallettsville Boy at the Radar Screen Over Hiroshima

    One of the strangest threads in twentieth-century history runs straight through this little Czech-Texan town. Joseph S. Stiborik was born here in Hallettsville on December 21, 1914, the son of immigrants from the Czech…

  • The Bugler Who Blew a Charge in a Union Prison

    Louis Turner left Hallettsville as chief bugler of Whitfield's Legion, which means his job in a battle was to be heard over it. He was at Iuka and came out of it wounded in the side with five bullet holes through his…

  • The Wagons That Carried the Settlers Inland

    The county school superintendent here was Professor William Eilers, and his father did something that shaped this whole part of Texas. He and a partner ran box wagons hauling newly landed immigrants from the coast to…

  • The Thirty Years He Was Serving Came Out of This County

    In March of two thousand eleven, a twenty seven year old inmate named David Puckett got out of the Stiles Unit at Beaumont, a maximum security prison, and stayed out. He went over a perimeter fence topped with razor…

  • The Brick Church the Czechs and Germans Built

    Hallettsville filled up in the late 1800s with families coming off the boats from the Czech lands and Germany, and the church they raised still stands. Sacred Heart Catholic Church began with worship in members' homes…

  • The Old Jail Where the Gallows Stood in the Yard

    A block off the courthouse square stands the Old Lavaca County Jail, a grim stone building put up in 1885 by the firm Dietz and Piper. It served as the county lockup for 120 years, closing only in 2005, which made it…

Show all 200 nearby places
  • The Town That Crowned a Domino Hall of Fame

    Plenty of Texas towns play dominoes, but Hallettsville built a whole identity around the click of the tiles. This is home to the Texas Championship Domino Hall of Fame, and the town hosts state-level tournaments twice a…

  • A Dangerous Office to Hold

    J. W. Bennett came up from Alabama and went to work as a deputy here in 1870. He was elected sheriff and tax collector in 1873 and held the two jobs together for seven years, then declined to run again. The 1893 write…

  • He Rode With Dawson

    The Cummings family packed up in 1837 and headed for the new Republic of Texas. They tried Nacogdoches first and by 1842 had moved down into what was about to become Lavaca County. That timing put Robert Cummings in…

  • Alma Male and Female Institute, Site of · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Alma Male and Female Institute, established in Hallettsville back in 1853. It started as a female institute, but later opened its doors to male students, offering a classical liberal…

  • Galveston, Battle of · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    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…

  • First National Bank of Hallettsville · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Hallettsville, and right here in this block, you're passing the site of the oldest bank in Lavaca County. It all started back in 1888 when the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad was pushing…

  • Hallettsville · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Hallettsville, a town with a story that starts way back in 1833 with John Hallett building a log cabin. But the town really got its name from his widow, Margaret. After John passed, Margaret…

  • Lavaca County Courthouse · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're cruising through Hallettsville, and right here is the Lavaca County Courthouse. This impressive building is the fifth structure to serve as the seat of justice for this county, which started out as a judicial…

  • Sacred Heart Catholic Church · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Hallettsville, and right here is Sacred Heart Catholic Church. This congregation started as a mission, with early services held in the homes of German and Czech immigrants who were building new…

  • First Methodist Church of Hallettsville · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the First United Methodist Church of Hallettsville. Methodist circuit riders first served this area way back in 1842. But this congregation officially started in 1851 with just eleven members. For…

  • High School Rodeo Was Invented Here, and Not Because of Rodeo · 0.2 mi

    Every high school rodeo in the United States traces back to this town. Claude Mullins took the superintendent's job in Hallettsville on the first of July, 1946. He competed in rodeo himself, and he started talking to a…

  • Hallett, Margaret Leatherbury · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Margaret Leatherbury (Letherbury, Leatherberry) Hallett was born on December 25, 1787, in Stafford County, Virginia. At the age of eighteen she fell in love with John Hallett, an English-born merchant seaman, whom her…

  • Arthur Pendleton Bagby · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker

    (May 17, 1833 - February 21, 1921) Star and Wreath Native Alabamian, last surviving member of West Point class of 1852, lawyer, colonel in 7th Texas Confederate Cavalry, participant in Sibley's New Mexico campaign,…

  • Willoughby, Captain Leiper · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Texas town of Hallettsville, and just ahead is the site where Captain Leiper Willoughby lived. He arrived in Texas way back in 1831, joining Captain William Patton's company for the decisive…

  • Whitfield, John Wilkins · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the birthplace of John Wilkins Whitfield, a Confederate Brigadier General. He commanded 'Whitfield's Legion' at the Battle of Iuka and led a brigade during the Vicksburg Campaign. Before and after…

  • Kent, Joseph · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Lavaca County, passing the final resting place of Joseph Kent. Kent arrived in Texas around 1832, just in time to join the fight for independence. He saw action in the crucial battles at Bexar in…

  • Foley, Stephen Tucker · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site where Stephen Tucker Foley once lived. Born in Alabama, he arrived in Texas in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1834</say-as>, just in time to join the fight for independence. Foley…

  • Hallettsville, TX · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Hallettsville, county seat of Lavaca County. This town's origin story is a real barn burner! Back in 1852, this place and the nearby town of Petersburg were locked in a fierce battle to become the…

  • A Banker's Name on the Town Library · 0.2 mi

    The library at 705 East 4th Street carries the name of Friench Simpson, one of old Hallettsville's pillars. Simpson, who lived from 1848 to 1923, was a local lawyer, banker, author, and Texas state senator, the kind of…

  • Whitfield, General John W. · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site where General John W. Whitfield once organized his own Confederate cavalry company. Born in Tennessee, Whitfield moved around, serving as a Kansas Congressman before settling in Texas. Right…

  • Scarborough, Paul · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of where Paul Scarborough's story unfolded. He arrived in Texas in 1835, just in time to join the fight for independence. Scarborough served in the Texas Army from October to December of…

  • Alma Institute · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Hallettsville, the county seat of Lavaca County, where a unique school once stood. The Alma Male and Female Institute was built back in 1852, funded by a donation of land and $5,000 for…

  • Lavaca County · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Lavaca County, a place that's seen human habitation for over ten thousand years. But way back in 1685, French explorer René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, landed on the coast and saw so many…

  • Loe, James Thomas Warner · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through North Texas, not far from where James Thomas Warner Loe got his start. Born in Hallettsville, Lavaca County, in 1850, Loe was a printer and carpenter who became a major voice for reform. He served…

  • Tarkington, Edward · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Lavaca County, not far from Hallettsville, where Edward Tarkington settled after arriving in South Texas around 1858. He was a Confederate veteran who fought in the battle of Glorieta Pass and was…

  • Walker, James · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Lavaca County, Texas, where right here in Hallettsville, a doctor named James Walker raised a cavalry company. This unit, Company D of the Second Mounted Texas Rifles, entered Confederate service…

  • Hallettsville Public Library · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Hallettsville, where folks have dreamed of a library since 1893! In 1932, a "Library Nook" opened, and by 1938, the community, the Rotary Club, and the WPA all pitched in to open the Lavaca County…

  • Wounded at the Battle of Luka · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Lavaca County, Texas, where John Wilkins Whitfield raised a Confederate cavalry company in 1861. Known as Whitfield's Rifles, it became Company D of the Twenty-seventh Texas Cavalry. Whitfield…

  • Malone, John · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    John Malone, a leading citizen in the Power and Hewetson colony who served in the General Council during the Texas Revolution , was born in Ireland in 1806. Apparently he lived in the United States before moving to…

  • Whitfield, John Wilkins · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    John Wilkins Whitfield, Confederate officer and delegate to two Texas constitutional conventions, was born in Williamson County, Tennessee, on March 11, 1818, son of Wilkins and Mary (Sturdivant) Whitfield. In 1838 he…

  • First Baptist Church of Hallettsville · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the First Baptist Church of Hallettsville. Local stories say Baptists started gathering here around 1851, with a formal congregation of fourteen by 1854. Imagine this: their early services were held…

  • Hallettsville Memorial Park · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Hallettsville Memorial Park, a place with a story that spans a century. This land was first deeded for a graveyard in 1870 by Mrs. Mary Jane Hallett Ballard. For nearly thirty years, pioneers were…

  • Named for a pioneering widow · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Hallettsville right now, a town named for a pioneering woman. Mrs. Margaret Hallett, widow of John Hallett, a veteran of the Battle of San Jacinto, donated the land that became this town. Her…

  • Hester, Thomas Asbury · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Thomas A. Hester, county official, Confederate officer, and state representative, was born Lawrence, Newton County, Mississippi, on October 6, 1820 (according to the date on his headstone). He married Julia Ann Hanley…

  • St. Peter Lutheran Church · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're cruising past the site of St. Peter Lutheran Church in Hallettsville. The story here starts way back in 1868, when Reverend Christian Geiger began his mission work with the German immigrants in this area. They…

  • Lost by One, on a Two-Point Play in Overtime · 0.4 mi

    Hallettsville's only state championship game came on December 17, 2020, at AT&T Stadium before 4,781 people, and the Brahmas led Jim Ned 21-0 midway through the second quarter. Jim Ned scored with 59 seconds left in the…

  • Five Hundred and One Yards in One Playoff Game · 0.4 mi

    On November 27, 2020, in a Class 3A Division I regional-round playoff game at Texan Stadium in Wimberley, Hallettsville senior Jonathon Brooks carried 27 times for 501 yards — 18.6 a carry — and scored nine touchdowns…

  • The Number They Hung Up, and Who Wore It First · 0.4 mi

    Hallettsville retired Jonathon Brooks' No. 25 at halftime of a 43-0 win over Hempstead at Brahma Memorial Stadium on a Friday night in mid-October 2023, timed for the University of Texas bye week so he could be there.…

  • Thirteen Years Apart, Both Diamonds Brought One Home · 0.4 mi

    The Lady Brahmas had been to the state softball final and lost it three times, in 2009, in 2015 and in 2019. Then came 2022. Hallettsville arrived at the Class 3A championship game on a thirty game winning streak and…

  • Two Points Over Columbus, and the Deepest Run Since 1976 · 0.4 mi

    Hallettsville beat Columbus 23-21 in the Class 3A Division I state quarterfinals on December 4, 2020, at Bastrop Memorial Stadium — a two-point win over a Colorado County neighbor that sent the Brahmas to the fifth…

  • From the Hallettsville Brahmas to the NFL Draft's Second Round · 0.4 mi

    The football fields at Hallettsville High School turned out one of the most explosive backs in recent Texas memory. Jonathon Brooks was born in Hallettsville on July 21, 2003, and as a Brahmas senior he was a one-man…

  • Thirteen and One, Two Points From the State Final · 0.4 mi

    Hallettsville went 13-1 in 2013 and reached the state semifinals, where Cameron Yoe beat the Brahmas 28-26 — a two-point loss to the team that went on to win the Class 2A Division I state championship over White Oak,…

  • Hallettsville Public Schools · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Hallettsville's public schools. Education here goes way back to the early 1850s, starting with the Alma Male and Female Institute in 1852, built on land donated by Margaret Hallett…

  • Lay-Bozka House · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Lay-Bozka House, also known as the "Wedding Cake House." Built between 1878 and 1882 for Dr. James E. Lay, a Civil War veteran and local physician, this home cost nearly five thousand dollars – a…

  • Hallett, John, Estate of · 0.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Hallettsville, named for the widow Margaret Hallett. But the story starts earlier, with her husband, John Hallett. He was an old sea captain and a member of Stephen F. Austin's original colony. In…

  • Wreck of the Don Milo · 0.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Hallettsville, where the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway arrived with big celebrations back in April of 1887. But just a few years later, disaster struck. On January 2nd, 1890, heavy rains had…

  • St. James' Episcopal Church · 0.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of St. James' Episcopal Church in Hallettsville. The congregation was officially accepted into the Diocese of West Texas in 1876 after missionary work began the year before. Early services…

  • American Legion Hudgeons Post 230 · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Hallettsville, where the American Legion Hudgeons Post 230 was founded in 1920. It's named for Thomas and Margaret Hudgeons, who both died during World War I. Thomas was lost when his transport…

  • Richardson Chapel United Methodist Church · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Lavaca County, near Hallettsville. Look for the story of Richardson Chapel, a church founded by former slaves right after emancipation. They purchased land in 1882, building their first structure…

  • Old Hanging Tree · 0.7 mi · Historical Marker

    The oak in the city park on the north edge of Hallettsville is the hanging tree, and the state marker at its foot is there for one afternoon in 1879. On Valentine's Day of 1878 a young man known only as Pocket, the son…

  • Murchison Lodge No. 80, A.F. & A.M. · 0.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Murchison Lodge No. 80, the oldest organized group in Lavaca County. It started way back in 1850, getting its charter in 1851. Named for John Murchison, an early Texas colonist and…

  • City Cemetery · 1.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past 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…

  • The City of Spires · 1.1 mi

    Hallettsville sits in the heart of Texas's 'Painted Churches' country, and you can read the reason in the skyline: steeples, and plenty of them. Czech and German immigrants poured onto this Lavaca County prairie in the…

  • Halletsville, TX · 1.1 mi

    Halletsville is a place where roots run deep, and you can feel it in the friendly waves and the Friday night lights at Brahma Stadium. We’re proud of our small-town atmosphere, but don’t let that fool you – some mighty…

  • The Kolache Capital of Texas · 1.1 mi

    If you have a chance to stop in Hallettsville, there's one thing you have to try: a kolache. And you're in the right place for it. A kolache, if you've never had one, is a soft, slightly sweet pastry brought here by…

  • How the Iron Horse Remade Hallettsville · 1.1 mi

    As you drive through Hallettsville, you'll cross a set of railroad tracks. Those tracks represent a massive engineering project that completely transformed this town in the late 19th century. For its first 50 years,…

  • The Lavaca Settlements Went After Them First · 1.1 mi

    Long before this was Lavaca County, the settlements strung along the Lavaca River were the closest armed men to the biggest Comanche raid in Texas history. On August 6, 1840, Buffalo Hump's war party hit Victoria; on…

  • William Smothers · 1.9 mi · Historical Marker

    (1760-1837) A Veteran of the American Revolution. A native of Virginia, William Smothers was orphaned at 12 when Indians killed his father, and his mother died of shock. In the American Revolution, he fought at King's…

  • Vollentine, Arthur Henry · 3.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Lavaca County, heading past the final resting place of Arthur Henry Vollentine. He arrived in Texas around 1833, settling on a Mexican land grant near present-day Yoakum. Vollentine served in the…

  • St. Mary's Parish · 3.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of St. Mary's Parish, considered the oldest rural Catholic parish in Texas! It was settled even before the Texas War for Independence. One of its early pioneers, James Brown, even fought and…

  • Brown School · 3.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through the St. Mary's farming community, near Hallettsville. Look to your right for the site of the Brown School, founded in 1894 when Benedict Brown deeded land for a public school. For decades, this…

  • Petersburg · 3.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Hallettsville, the county seat of Lavaca County, but it wasn't always this way. Back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1846</say-as>, this town, Petersburg, was founded on land donated by…

  • The Meat Market at the Smothers Creek Crossing · 3.6 mi

    A hundred yards or so from where United States Highway Ninety Alternate crosses Smothers Creek, on the west side of Hallettsville, there is a meat market called Janak's. The family dates the business to nineteen…

  • The Creek That Cannot Spell Its Own Name · 3.7 mi

    West of Hallettsville, United States Highway Ninety Alternate crosses a stream called Smothers Creek. The Handbook of Texas gives it thirteen miles and not an inch more. It rises about three miles west of Witting, up in…

  • Jack, Spencer Houston · 4.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Spencer Houston Jack, Austin colony pioneer, lawyer, and revolutionist, the eighth of twelve children of Patrick and Harriet (Spencer) Jack, was born in Wilkes County, Georgia, on April 13, 1809. He accompanied his…

  • McGonagill, Henry Clay · 4.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Clay McGonagill (McGonegill, McGonigle, or McGonagil), rodeo cowboy, was born on September 24, 1879, in Sweet Home, Lavaca County, Texas, the youngest of six children of George M. and E. C. McGonagill. When he was four…

  • Flury, Godfrey · 4.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Right here in Praha, you're driving past a true Texas masterpiece. In 1895, Godfrey Flury, a Swiss immigrant painter, was commissioned to decorate the interior of St. Mary's Church. He transformed the simple wooden…

  • Mitchell, Isaac Newton · 4.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through what was once wild Texas frontier country, and right here, Isaac Newton Mitchell made his mark. He arrived in 1838, settling in the Hallett settlement, later Lavaca County. Mitchell wasn't just a…

  • Ponton, Joel · 4.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Lavaca County, an area that saw its share of frontier danger. In 1834, Joel Ponton's father and a companion were killed by Native Americans right here. Later, in 1840, Ponton himself narrowly…

  • Sweet Home, TX (Lavaca County) · 4.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Sweet Home, Texas, a place that got its name from settlers finding ideal conditions for home life. But during the Civil War, this quiet community became a vital strategic point. It served as a…

  • Breslau, TX · 4.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Breslau is on Farm Road 957 seven miles northwest of Hallettsville in north central Lavaca County. In the early days of the Republic of Texas , James Lyons received a headright certificate and located a one-half league…

  • Gleckler, TX · 4.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Gleckler (Glecklar) is a decentralized farming community on U.S. Highway 77 about five miles south of Schulenburg and fifteen miles north of Hallettsville in northern Lavaca County. In 1831 William P. Hensley, a member…

  • Hope, TX · 4.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Hope, at the intersection of State Highway 111 and U.S. Highway 77, six miles from Yoakum in southwestern Lavaca County, was named for Hope's trading post. The community was established before the Texas Revolution and…

  • Moravia, TX · 4.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Moravia is at the intersection of Farm roads 957 and 532 in Lavaca County. In this Catholic community of Czechs, Germans, and Anglos, the Czech-Moravian group was the largest during the 1980s. Most of the Moravians…

  • Novohrad, TX · 4.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Novohrad is a decentralized farming and ranching community ten miles northeast of Moulton on Farm Road 1295 in northern Lavaca County. In the early days of the Republic of Texas , Norman Woods , son of Zadock Woods and…

  • Whitfield's Legion · 4.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Right here, in what is now Lavaca County, the story of Whitfield's Legion begins. It was one of only two 'legions' Texas sent to the Confederate Army during the Civil War. Though a legion usually meant a mix of…

  • Henkhaus, TX · 4.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Henkhaus is on the Southern Pacific line a mile west of State Highway 95 between Shiner and Moulton in western Lavaca County. During the Republic of Texas era, Henry Russell received a first-class certificate to lands…

  • Kinkler, TX · 4.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Kinkler and nearby New Kinkler are on U.S. Highway 77 and Lavaca County Road 214, seven miles north of Hallettsville in northern Lavaca County. In 1838 Richard J. Woodward was issued a headright certificate for one…

  • Koerth, TX · 4.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Koerth is on Farm Road 531 three miles west of U.S. Highway 77 in south central Lavaca County. The families of William Ryan, Bernard O'Dougherty, and other settlers of Irish descent first settled the area in 1833. The…

  • Komensky, TX · 4.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Komensky is a farming community at the intersection of Farm roads 532 and 1295, fourteen miles northwest of Hallettsville in northwestern Lavaca County. Its boundaries are roughly equal to that of the old Lavaca County…

  • Speaks, TX · 4.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Speaks is on Farm Road 530 twenty miles southeast of Hallettsville in Lavaca County. In 1828 Jesse H. Cartwright received from the Mexican government a small grant of land on the east side of the Navidad River near the…

  • Sublime, TX · 4.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Sublime is at the intersection of Farm roads 142, 146, and 125 and U.S. Highway 90-A, eight miles east of Hallettsville in eastern Lavaca County. In February 1838 Carney H. Coulter of San Augustine County received a…

  • Wied, TX · 4.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Wied is on Farm Road 1891 just north of U.S. Highway 90A, midway between Hallettsville and Shiner in west central Lavaca County. The first settlers in the area were John Smeathers, who arrived in 1832, and Francis…

  • Witting, TX · 4.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Witting is at the intersection of Lavaca County Road 277 and Farm Road 340, midway between Hallettsville and Moulton in northwestern Lavaca County. On September 15, 1831, Edwin Richeson, a member of Green DeWitt 's…

  • Worthing, TX · 4.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Worthing is near the intersection of U.S. highways 90A and 77A, four miles west of Hallettsville in central Lavaca County. On May 8, 1832, John Smeathers, a member of DeWitt's colony , received a grant to lands on…

  • Radhost School · 4.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Radhost School, a testament to the dedication of Czech immigrants in Lavaca County. Opened in 1873, this school began as a single classroom teaching in the Bohemian language. Imagine…

  • Vysehrad School · 4.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Vysehrad School, a testament to Czech heritage in Lavaca County. Established north of Worthing in 1887, its name means 'high castle' in Czech. Frank Jakubik taught in the original…

  • Worthing · 5.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through what used to be the community of Worthing, a place that saw a lot of change after the Civil War. German and Czech immigrants moved in, farming corn and cotton. In 1882, Joseph Orsak started a…

  • John Himes Livergood · 6.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of a man who lived a full century of Texas history. John Himes Livergood arrived in Texas in 1837, just in time to join the Republic's fight for survival. He chased Comanches after the Peach…

  • Stacy School · 6.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Stacy School. STACY SCHOOL NEAR THE TURN OF THE 20TH CENTURY, LARGE NUMBERS OF GERMAN AND CZECH IMMIGRANTS SETTLED IN LAVACA COUNTY. TO EDUCATE THE INFLUX OF CHILDREN, THE COUNTY CREATED NUMEROUS…

  • Site of Breslau School · 6.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Lavaca County, near the site of the former community of Breslau. German and Czech immigrants settled here in the 1860s and 70s, naming their farms after the Prussian city. Fritz Ladewig donated…

  • Rabb Switch · 6.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through what used to be Rabb Switch, a community that owes its existence to a doctor's dying wish. Dr. Edward Rabb, who settled here in the 1880s, left instructions in his will for a railroad switch to be…

  • Vsetin Cemetery · 6.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Vsetin Cemetery, a quiet reminder of a community built by Czechoslovakian immigrants. Around 1865, these newcomers, fresh from Austria, settled in an area already named Sublime by earlier Irish…

  • Wied School · 7.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're cruising through the Wied community, just outside Hallettsville. Look around – this area was settled by German immigrants starting in the 1830s, and Czech families joined them soon after. By 1895, this community…

  • The Sheriff Who Won by Two Votes · 7.3 mi

    This run of Alternate United States Highway Ninety, from the east edge of Shiner to the west edge of Hallettsville, carries a name the legislature gave it in two thousand seventeen. It is the Sheriff Ronnie Dodds…

  • A Gin, a Schoolhouse, and That Was Witting · 8.3 mi

    Dietrich Garbade landed in Texas from Bremen with twenty eight dollars to his name, and he spent all of it on a saddle. That was not vanity. A farmer hiring a hand supplied the horse and the hand supplied his own…

  • Old Sweet Home · 8.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Lavaca County, past the site of Old Sweet Home. This community was settled in the mid-1800s, and by 1852, it had a post office and a laid-out town. It was a key stop on the old Spanish trail…

  • Witting School · 8.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Witting School, one of the last rural schools in Lavaca County to close. German immigrants settled this area in the late 1800s, and George Witting himself donated the land in 1880 for…

  • Shiloh Cemetery · 8.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Shiloh Cemetery, a final resting place for the early settlers of this community. The first marked burial here was Frederick Schmidt Muller in 1897, though unmarked graves predate that. Many…

  • Wild Man of the Navidad · 8.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Lavaca County, near Sublime, where for about 15 years, settlers were terrorized and pitied by a mysterious figure known as the Wild Man of the Navidad. He first appeared along the river bottoms…

  • Shiloh Community · 8.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Shiloh, a community born from a journey. In the 1850s, about thirty families packed up and moved here from Mississippi, naming their new home Shiloh after their old church. They were mostly…

  • West-Wagner Homestead · 8.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the West-Wagner Homestead, a place that saw Texas ranching history unfold. In 1854, Washington and Mary West settled here, and their home soon became a stagecoach stop, growing into the…

  • Before It Was Sublime It Was Strunksville · 9.0 mi

    Ferdinand August Strunk put a store and a horse powered gin on his own farm out here, and he called the place Strunksville, after himself, which is what you can do when you are the only thing at the crossroads. The gin…

  • The Post Office Was in the Store · 9.0 mi

    Robert Miller sold goods at Sublime for forty years. His first place of business was called, plainly enough, Miller's Store, and for several years the Sublime post office simply sat inside it before it was moved to…

  • Sublime Baptist Church · 9.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Sublime Baptist Church. It began services in 1853 near Geiger Cemetery, officially organizing in 1878. The church has been a community center and spiritual guide for over a century.

  • Geiger Cemetery · 9.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past 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…

  • Andrew Kent · 9.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the area where Andrew Kent settled his family in Texas back in 1830. He'd come all the way from Missouri with his wife Elizabeth and their ten children, drawn by empresario Green DeWitt's…

  • Hackberry · 9.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through what used to be Hackberry, a community founded by German immigrant Ludwig Eduard Neuhaus. He arrived in Texas in 1846 and, seeing opportunity, sponsored his own brothers and other countrymen to…

  • Route of the Texas Army · 9.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Lavaca County, not far from where history was made. It's March 15th, 1836, and General Sam Houston and his Texas Army are on the move, retreating eastward from Gonzales. They cross Rocky Creek…

  • Hackberry · 9.9 mi · Historical Marker

    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…

  • Ponton, Joel · 10.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Joel Ponton's homestead, a man who saw incredible things on the Texas frontier. Born in Virginia in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1802</say-as>, Ponton arrived in Texas in…

  • SPJST Moravia Cemetery · 10.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past SPJST Moravia Cemetery. IMMIGRANTS FROM NORTHEASTERN MORAVIA (CURRENT CZECH REPUBLIC) SETTLED IN THE AREA PRESENTLY KNOWN AS MORAVIA, TEXAS. MORAVIA WAS FOUNDED BY JAKUB HOLLUB AND HIS SON-IN-LAW…

  • Vienna (Cheney Settlement) · 10.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Vienna, a community with roots reaching back to the Republic of Texas. It all started around 1830 when Maryland native John Cheney brought his family here, fleeing Native American…

  • Moravia School · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Lavaca County, where Czech and German immigrants carved out new lives in the 1870s. Right around here was the heart of Moravia, a Czech farming community. The very first school? It was a simple…

  • The Boy Who Saw Them Take the Cattle · 10.4 mi

    On a June morning in 1880 three men rode out to gather up stray cattle, butcher them and sell the meat to the shops at Flatonia and Schulenburg. Passing the Ragsdale place, about a mile west of Moravia, they helped…

  • Andrews Chapel Cemetery · 10.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Andrews Chapel Cemetery, a place with roots going back to the 1860s. It's named for A.G. Andrews, who donated land for a church and burial ground. Look for the grave of Alfred Morrow, a Mexican War…

  • Moravia General Store · 10.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Moravia, a community founded by Czech immigrants who named it after their homeland. Look to your right – this spot on the marker once held a unique building. In 1889, Ignac Jalufka built a…

  • Lawrence, Joseph · 10.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of a Texas hero! Joseph Lawrence fought in the Texas War for Independence and was there at the Battle of San Jacinto, the fight that won Texas its freedom. Imagine the courage it took to…

  • Bennett Cemetery · 10.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Bennett Cemetery, a final resting place for pioneers who settled this part of Texas. Stephen and Mary Ann Bennett arrived here from South Carolina around 1841, part of a wagon train to the…

  • Oak Grove School · 10.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Oak Grove School, a community hub that served students for nearly 80 years. Local lore says it started around 1882, named for a stand of post oaks. The Wenske family donated land in 1894,…

  • Komensky School · 11.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Komensky School, a testament to the dedication of Czech and German immigrants in the Woods Prairie settlement. In 1895, they pooled their resources to build this community school, naming…

  • Ezzell School · 11.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Ezzell School, a place that's been educating local kids for over 150 years. It started way back in the 1850s as the White House Christian Church and School, built two miles north of here.…

  • William E. Summers · 11.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Hallettsville, where William E. Summers lived before heading to the Alamo. He arrived in Texas around 1832, received land on the Lavaca River in 1835, and voted to send delegates to the Texas…

  • Site of Bunjes School · 12.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the old Bunjes School, a testament to early Texas community spirit. Back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1886</say-as>, local residents funded and built this schoolhouse…

  • Marshall and Malinda Mitchell · 12.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the land where Marshall and Malinda Mitchell built their homestead. Marshall, a carpenter and winemaker, and Malinda, a teacher, were descendants of Bankston Mitchell, who was born enslaved in…

  • Shiner-Welhausen Homestead · 12.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Shiner-Welhausen Homestead. Back in 1875, Henry B. Shiner bought this land to build his cattle ranch. Then, in 1887, the railroad came through, and Shiner donated land for a townsite…

  • Oakland Normal School · 12.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Oakland, Texas, where for over thirty years, a beacon of education shone brightly for African Americans. This was the site of the Oakland Normal School, founded way back in 1882. For three…

  • Cotton Grove Dance Floor and Store · 12.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Lavaca County, passing the site of the Cotton Grove Dance Floor and Store. After World War II, returning soldiers and the local German and Czech descendants needed a place to gather. From 1946 to…

  • Oakland · 12.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through what used to be Prairie Point, a Texas town platted in 1856 by Mexican War veteran A.C. Hereford. It sits on land once surveyed by the famous James Bowie. Prairie Point was the second oldest…

  • Strunk-Woolsey House · 12.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Strunk-Woolsey House, built around 1875. This home showcases the early Texas open-hall, or breezeway, style of construction. It was the residence of John Monroe Woolsey during his time as a…

  • The Road His Son Grew Up On · 13.0 mi

    The Sergeant David M. Furrh Memorial Highway follows State Highway Ninety Five between Shiner and Moulton. David Furrh was born in Houston in nineteen sixty, and he spent seventeen years in law enforcement, with the…

  • Sulphur Park · 13.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Sulphur Park, a concrete swimming pool and rec area built in 1930 by Jake Kurtz. Fed by mineral water from a 73-foot well, the 120-foot pool was the heart of a summer oasis with picnic…

  • Ponton Family · 13.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Shiner, Texas, and right here is the story of the Ponton family, who arrived in Texas back in 1829. William Ponton was the very first settler in this area to be killed by Comanche Indians. His…

  • Sarah Creath McSherry Hibbens Stinnett Howard · 13.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Lavaca County, passing the story of Sarah Howard, a woman who truly knew the Texas frontier's savagery. Born in Illinois, Sarah arrived in Texas in 1828 with her first husband, John McSherry. Just…

  • First Methodist Church of Shiner · 13.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the First Methodist Church of Shiner. Organized way back in 1887, this congregation started life as a mission church, served by traveling preachers. Imagine this: in 1889, a local rancher donated a…

  • Pilot Grove Church and Cemetery · 13.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Pilot Grove, a community named for a stand of trees. About 1875, John Wesley Vick and his family settled here. When the community needed a burial ground, Vick donated an acre of his land, asking only…

  • Site of Velehrad School · 13.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Velehrad, a community founded by Czech immigrants in the 1850s. They named it for a Czech city, meaning 'Big Castle.' From the start, these settlers prioritized education, holding classes in their…

  • SPJST Velehrad Cemetery · 13.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the SPJST Velehrad Cemetery near Hallettsville. This burial ground was established by Czech immigrants from Moravia, who settled the Velehrad community. Filip Bucek, a Czech resident, dreamed of a…

  • The Brewery That Beer Built · 13.5 mi

    In 1909, a group of Shiner's German and Czech residents, tired of the warm, inconsistent beer available in Texas, formed the Shiner Brewing Association. For five years, it was a modest local operation. Then, in 1914, a…

  • Brewing with Ancient Water · 13.5 mi

    The secret to Shiner beer isn't just the recipe; it's the water. The consistent, unique taste comes from a source deep beneath the brewery itself. Since its earliest days, the Spoetzl Brewery has drawn its water from…

  • The Cathedral of the Prairie · 13.5 mi

    As you pass through Shiner you might notice a Catholic church grander than a town this size should support. That is Saints Cyril and Methodius, and it is a monument to the Czech and Moravian families who made this…

  • Pasture Wire to USA Today's Newsracks · 13.5 mi

    Shiner's most surprising engineering story started with junk wire pulled off the prairie. Around 1895 August Kaspar, a Fayette County ranch hand who had moved to Shiner, noticed that the old smooth fencing wire being…

  • He Turned Down Free Land · 13.5 mi

    The community of Henkhaus, out on the rail line between Shiner and Moulton, carries the name of the family that started it, and the founder built the first house on the league and was its first permanent inhabitant.…

  • The Town Built by the Train · 13.5 mi

    The road you're on, Highway 90A, follows the railroad that made this town - and unmade another one. There was already a place here: a trading post with a post office called Half Moon, opened in 1885. Then the San…

  • Kaspar Wire Works · 13.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Kaspar Wire Works, a Texas success story born from discarded materials. It all started in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1895</say-as> when August Kaspar, son of a Swiss…

  • Surviving Prohibition with Near Beer and Ice · 13.5 mi · Things to Do

    When Prohibition hit in 1920 most breweries across America shut their doors forever. Not Kosmos Spoetzl. He kept the Shiner brewery alive by officially…

  • Baursville School · 13.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the old Baursville School, a testament to the early Czech and German settlers in this area. Back in 1881, August and Emilie Baur donated land for a community school. Initially,…

  • Site of Evergreen School · 13.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Evergreen School, a community hub that served rural Lavaca County for over fifty years. It all started in 1897 when trustees bought two acres for a schoolhouse. By 1903, they'd added more…

  • Part One: Why Barley Has to Be Tricked Into Spring · 13.6 mi

    There has been a brewery running in Shiner since nineteen oh nine, so here is the first of five on how the stuff in the can actually gets made. Start with a problem: yeast cannot eat barley. The grain keeps its energy…

  • Part Two: The Hour That Turns Starch Into Sugar · 13.6 mi

    Second of five on how beer gets made, in the town that has been doing it since nineteen oh nine. The malt is cracked open and stirred into hot water, here drawn from the brewery's own artesian well. That porridge is the…

  • Part Three: What the Boil Is Really For · 13.6 mi

    Third of five on how beer is made, in the town that has been making it since nineteen oh nine. The wort now goes into a kettle and boils hard for about an hour, doing several jobs at once. It sterilises, which matters…

  • Shiner - Painted Churches Country · 13.6 mi · Web Research

    You are inside the Painted Churches country of Texas. Right here in Shiner is Saints Cyril and Methodius, one of the largest of the painted churches, with stained glass made in Munich and a huge mural of Christ in the…

  • A Painted Church Built by Immigrant Hands · 13.6 mi

    At 306 South Avenue F rises one of Texas's celebrated Painted Churches, Sts. Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church. The congregation's Czech and German Catholic families chose the name deliberately: Cyril and Methodius…

  • Patek's Market, Where the Sausage Still Hangs · 13.6 mi

    If you want to taste old Shiner instead of just read about it, pull up to Patek's Grocery & Market at 224 South Avenue E. A Patek opened a grocery and meat market here in 1937, selling staples and smoked meats to a…

  • Part Four: What the Yeast Is Actually Doing · 13.6 mi

    Fourth of five on how beer gets made, in the Texas town that has been at it since nineteen oh nine. Everything so far has been cooking. Malting, mashing and boiling are an elaborate way of making sweet, sterile, bitter…

  • Spoetzl Brewery · 13.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're cruising through Shiner, Texas, and right here is a landmark for beer lovers: the Spoetzl Brewery. Built by a local stock company, it was sold in April 1915 to Kosmas Spoetzl, a Bavarian immigrant who'd even run…

  • Part Five: The Weeks of Cold Nobody Sees · 13.6 mi

    Last of five on how beer is made, in the town that has been making it since nineteen oh nine. The yeast has finished and there is alcohol in the tank, and the beer is still not ready, because of what fermentation leaves…

  • Saint Ludmila's Academy · 13.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Saint Ludmila's Academy in Shiner. Built in 1896 by local contractors, this French-style building was the first Catholic school in town. It opened in February 1897, run by the Sisters of the…

  • Saints Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church · 13.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Saints Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church, a landmark in Shiner! German and Czech settlers here once worshipped in homes or drove miles to other towns. But in 1890, Father John Forest established a…

  • The Pitcher They Called Pencil · 13.8 mi

    Shiner put a man in the big leagues and he never really left town. Carroll Sembera was on Shiner's first Little League all star team in 1952, and as a sophomore at Shiner High he struck out twenty four batters in a…

  • Forty Years of Service, and He's Only Going as Far as the Yard · 13.8 mi

    Shiner is changing police chiefs, and the man stepping down is not going anywhere. Wayne Denson set October 12 as his last day with the City of Shiner, closing out three years as chief of the Shiner Police Department…

  • Shiner - Miss Celie, the Woman Who Saved the Brewery · 13.8 mi · Web Research

    Right here at the Spoetzl Brewery, there's a name most folks have never heard: Cecile Spoetzl. They called her Miss Celie. She was Kosmos Spoetzl's daughter, and when Prohibition hit in the nineteen twenties, her father…

  • Shiner, TX · 13.8 mi

    Shiner, Texas, sits just a bit higher than the flatlands further south, a small rise in the landscape that feels like a rise in time as well. It’s a place where the past hasn’t just vanished; it lingers in the air, in…

  • The Woman Who Saw the Comet Twice · 13.8 mi

    In June of 1910 a reporter from the Shiner Gazette sat down with Jemima Howe Carnes, who was about to turn eighty six, and she said something worth keeping. Halley's comet was in the sky that year and everyone was…

  • He Gave the Railroad the Ground for Nothing · 13.8 mi

    Before there was a Shiner there was Joseph Kopecky, out on Rocky Creek about a quarter mile from where the town would stand. He was the first Bohemian resident of this part of Lavaca County and one of its first settlers…

  • The Saddle Maker Who Gave the Town Its Park · 13.8 mi

    Charles Welhausen came off a ship at Galveston in 1843, a boy from Hanover. The family tried Cat Spring, then High Hill, and he learned to make saddles. He went into the Confederate army at the start of the war, served…

  • The Creek North of Town Is Named for a Man Who Died On It · 13.8 mi

    Four miles north of Shiner the highway crosses Ponton Creek, and there is a family behind that name. William and Isabella Ponton came down from Missouri in 1829, Virginians originally, and took land in DeWitt's colony…

  • Shiner - Spoetzl Brewery · 13.8 mi · Historical Marker

    In 1909, Czech and German farmers in Lavaca County pooled their money to build a brewery because they were tired of bad beer. The Shiner Brewing Association started in a wooden building with second-hand equipment and a…

  • Spoetzl Brewery · 13.8 mi · Things to Do

    Home of Shiner beer since 1909. Free tours and tastings in tiny Shiner Texas.

  • The Beer That Tasted Like Medicine · 13.8 mi · Things to Do

    In 1909 a group of homesick German and Czech farmers in tiny Shiner Texas pooled their money built a ramshackle brewery and tried to make beer that reminded…

  • The Brewmaster from Egypt · 13.8 mi · Things to Do

    Kosmos Spoetzl took one of the strangest paths to small-town Texas. Born in Bavaria he trained at brewmaster school in Germany then spent eight years brewing…

  • The Only Female Brewery Owner in America · 13.8 mi · Things to Do

    When Kosmos Spoetzl died in 1950 his daughter Cecile -- known as Miss Celie -- took over the brewery. She became the only female brewery owner in the entire…

  • The First Nail in Shiner · 13.8 mi

    Somebody has to be first, and in Shiner the claim belongs to a lumber merchant named C. L. Williams. He moved here on the fifteenth of November and opened the first business in the place, which was a lumber yard, and he…

  • He Remembered When the Town Was a Field · 13.8 mi

    Edmund Herder was Shiner's postmaster, and he could remember standing on the site of the town when it was unbroken prairie and nothing else. He watched the entire place appear around him. Before he ran the post office…

  • The Fifth Business in Town · 13.8 mi

    Here is a way to measure how new a town is. When Wolters Brothers opened in Shiner in 1888, it was the fifth business to do so. Not the fifth dry goods store. The fifth business, of any kind. You could still have…

  • The Only Girl in the Class of 1914 · 13.8 mi

    Leonida Schuhmann was born in Shiner in 1896 and adopted by the Wager family when she was five months old. She graduated from Shiner High School in 1914 as the only girl in her graduating class, went off to college in…

  • A Saloon Downstairs and an Opera House Up · 13.8 mi

    On the corner of Seventh and Avenue D there is a building two men put up in 1895, and the arrangement inside tells you how a small town does culture. The ground floor was the Opera House Saloon, and later other…

  • Piano, Guitar, Mandolin, German and Czech · 13.8 mi

    The first Catholic school in Shiner went up in 1896, a two story frame building with two classrooms, a dining room and a kitchen downstairs and the Sisters living upstairs. It opened in February 1897 with fifty seven…

  • The Dog Trot House and the Post Office Called Winnton · 13.8 mi

    William Green and his wife India came from Kentucky and built a house on this land in 1853, more than thirty years before Shiner existed. It is a dog trot: two main rooms with an open hall running between them, which is…

  • The Town That Swallowed Half Moon · 13.8 mi · Things to Do

    Before Shiner existed there was a little community called Half Moon named for the peculiar crescent shape of the local timber. Half Moon had been around since…

  • The Shiner Hobo Band · 13.8 mi · Things to Do

    After World War I the town of Shiner did what any proud small Texas town would do -- it formed a band. But not just any band. The Shiner Hobo Band dressed in…

  • Dinosaur Bones and a Country Store Under One Roof · 13.8 mi

    At 306 South Avenue I you'll find one of the most charmingly cluttered small-town museums in Texas, the Edwin Wolters Memorial Museum, named for a respected Shiner businessman and run by the city. There's no single…

  • Shiner - Edwin Wolters Memorial Museum · 13.8 mi · Web Research

    On the corner of South Avenue I sits the Edwin Wolters Memorial Museum. It was built in nineteen fifteen, not as a museum, but as the Wolters family home. The Wolters were one of the founding families of Shiner, part of…

  • Shiner Opera House · 13.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Shiner, and you're passing the historic Shiner Opera House! Built back in 1895 by Wendtland and Wagener, this place was the heart of the town. Upstairs, it hosted everything from plays and dances…

  • The Beer Law That Left Out an Ingredient Nobody Knew About · 13.8 mi

    The name Shiner comes off a man — Henry B. Shiner donated the land for the depot in eighteen eighty-seven — but there is a brewery in this town that has been running since nineteen oh nine, so beer is fair territory…

  • Lager Is Not a Flavor, It’s an Instruction · 13.8 mi

    You are in Shiner, and there has been a brewery running here since nineteen oh nine, so here is the beer tangent. The word lager is not a taste. It is a verb. Lagern is German for to store, and that is the whole…

  • Masonic Lodge Building · 13.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the original Masonic Lodge building in Shiner. David Kokernot moved this structure here in 1889, intending it for both the Methodist church and the Masons. Interestingly, the first local…

  • Bock Means Goat, and It’s a Misunderstanding · 13.8 mi

    Since you are in Shiner, here is a beer tangent about a word you have almost certainly said out loud. Bock. In German it means billy goat, which is why bock labels have been carrying pictures of goats for a century and…

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