Midfield, Texas

Pudge Heffelfinger, recognized as the first professional football player, passed away in Blessing in 1954. This event adds a unique piece of sports history to the town's narrative.

You're driving through Blessing, a town that owes its start to Jonathan Pierce laying out a rail line in the early 1900s. But listen up for the *real* story: the Blessing Library Association. In 1912, local women banded…

You're driving past the Blessing State Bank, built in 1907 during a local boom. Designed possibly by Jules Leffland, the same architect as the Blessing Hotel, this is one of the few commercial buildings left from that…

You're driving through Matagorda County, passing the historic A.B. Pierce Home, built in 1909. Pierce himself, a Spanish-American War veteran, co-founded the nearby town of Blessing. But this house was more than just a…

You're driving past the site of St. Peter's Catholic Church in Blessing. Mass was first held here in 1912, with a church building completed in 1915. The current structure was dedicated in 1976 after several moves and…

You're driving through the Markham vicinity, passing through what was once the oil boomtown of Clemville. It started as farmland, but in 1908, oil was discovered, and by 1911, it was renamed for F. J. Clemenger, who…

State Highway Thirty Five, through Matagorda and Brazoria counties, is the Stephen F. Austin Memorial Highway. Austin was born at the lead mines of southwestern Virginia in seventeen ninety three. His father, Moses, set…

You're driving past the Grimes Cemetery, a burial ground that’s still active today. It started in 1856, when cattleman Richard Grimes established it after his infant grandson died. Grimes himself came to Texas in 1837,…

You're driving through Danevang, Texas, a town founded in 1894 by Danish immigrants. Look for the Community Hall, or Danevang Forsamlingshus. This building, finished in 1895, was the heart of the community. It served as…

You're driving past Danevang, the first successful Danish community in Texas. Back in 1894, Danish immigrants bought up thousands of acres here, choosing Texas over northern settlements. Why? They wanted to keep their…

You're driving through Danevang, a community founded by Danish immigrants. In the early 1890s, the Danish Folk Society helped 93 families establish this cooperative settlement. These settlers, devoted Lutherans,…

The name Markham has a notable origin, named in 1903 for Charles H. Markham, a prominent figure in the railroad industry. He was not only a railroad engineer for Southern Pacific but also later served as the President…

You're driving through Markham, and right here is the site of Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church. Organized in 1903 by nine charter members working in local industries, their first church building went up in 1909, only to be…

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.

Wilson Creek, formerly known as Wilson's Creek, rises 2½ miles west of Markham and just north of Farm Road 2431 in northwest Matagorda County (at 28°58' N, 96°07' W) and flows south for fourteen miles; the stream is…

You're driving through Markham, Texas, a community whose very name tells a story of changing times. Originally known as Cortes, this place had its own post office right at the turn of the 20th century. But by 1903,…

You're driving past Francitas. The LaBauve family moved here from Louisiana in the 1800s; many are buried in nearby LaBauve Cemetery. After the railroad came in 1906, Nebraskans John G. Maher and William F. Schwind…

You're driving past the site of the home of Horace Yeamans, a man who arrived in Texas as part of Stephen F. Austin's 1829 colony. He later served in the army of the Republic of Texas, and the land for this homesite was…

You're driving through Matagorda County, past the site of Buckeye. In the early 1900s, land promoters across Texas lured folks north with promises of warm weather and fertile soil. Dr. Ambrose Plotner and John Stoddard…

State Highway Seventy One in Wharton County, from Farm to Market Road Twenty Seven Sixty Five to the Matagorda County line, is the Game Warden Justin Hurst Memorial Highway. Justin Hurst started with Texas Parks and…

You're driving past the site of what was once a vital crossing on the Colorado River, known as Elliott's Ferry. Back in the early days of Texas settlement, getting across this river was a major challenge. Thomas Cayce…

You're driving through Bay City, where Dr. Henry Hofmann Loos arrived in 1915, taking over surgery practice from a retiring doctor. He served in the Medical Corps during World War I, then returned to Bay City,…

Southwest of Bay City, near Wadsworth, sits one of the largest nuclear stations in the United States: the South Texas Project. It runs two Westinghouse pressurized water reactors, each rated near 1,280 megawatts,…

You're driving past the Collegeport Cemetery, a place that's seen more than a century of life and loss. Founded in 1908 alongside the town of Collegeport, this burial ground holds the stories of early residents like…

You're driving past the site of Linnie Roberts Elementary School in Bay City. By 1894, Matagorda County already had twenty African American schools. This one, named for a dedicated teacher who served for 32 years,…

You're driving past where Mother Zion Missionary Baptist Church got its start in Bay City. Back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1906</say-as>, Reverend Basil Tolson, who’d already founded a congregation in the…

You're driving past the site of Hilliard High School, a beacon of education for Bay City's African American community. It started in the 1890s, a small schoolhouse with a dedicated first teacher. By 1904, the community…

You're driving through the site of Collegeport, a town built on big dreams starting in 1908. Land developers advertised this spot on Trespalacios Bay as a farming paradise with a college and a port. By 1909, the Gulf…

Honors Stephen F. Austin, 'Father of Texas,' who led the Old Three Hundred Anglo families into Mexican Texas in 1821. Died December 27, 1836, six weeks after Texas won independence. Honorary segment on SH-35 through the…

You're driving past the site of Bay City's First Presbyterian Church. Organized in 1898 by Alexander D. Hensley and Gilford M. Magill, it held early services in the county courthouse. The congregation built its first…

You're driving through Bay City, past the stately home of D.P. and Louise Moore. Dolph Phenias Moore arrived in Matagorda County way back in 1852, eventually becoming a major force in the area. He was a successful…

You're driving past the site of Bethel Baptist Church in Bay City. About 1904, Harris and Maria Anderson started holding church services in their home for the African American community in the North-end neighborhood. By…

You're driving through Bay City, the site of St. Mark's Episcopal Church. This congregation began in 1895, with early services held in a building that also served as a temporary courthouse. Their first dedicated church…

Just a few miles outside Bay City stands one of the most powerful and complex structures in Texas: the South Texas Project Nuclear Generating Station. If you see two large, identical concrete domes on the horizon,…

The South Texas Project, located just outside Bay City, is a marvel of 20th-century engineering. At its heart are two pressurized water reactors. Inside each reactor's steel vessel, nuclear fission—the splitting of…

Bay City exists because a Colorado mining millionaire bet on a cow pasture. In 1894 David Swickheimer, flush from silver riches, joined G.M. Magill, N.M. Vogelsang, and Nicholas King to form the Bay City Town Company.…

The courthouse in the center of Bay City isn't just a building; it's a trophy from a political heist. Until 1894 the county seat was in the old coastal town of Matagorda. Then a syndicate of promoters — a Colorado…

In 1988, the entire world was watching the 200-meter dash at the Seoul Olympics, expecting to see American superstar Carl Lewis win another gold. But a quiet, determined athlete from Bay City, Texas, had other plans.…

The railroad made Gary, and then it left. In 1898 the Marshall, Timpson and Sabine Pass Railway pushed a line from Timpson over to Carthage, and where it crossed Thomas J. Hull's farm, Hull and S. Smith Garrison laid…

In 2017, Bay City became home to a new $1.8-billion Tenaris seamless-pipe mill, a significant development for the local economy. This mill manufactures tubular goods such as drill pipe and casing, catering specifically…

You're driving through Matagorda County, heading past the site of a truly foundational Texas figure. Ira Ingram, born up in Vermont, arrived in Texas in 1824 and became a key player in establishing the Republic. In…

You're driving through Matagorda County, a place that was once the second most important port in Texas. During the Civil War, this area was a vital hub for blockade runners, smuggling out tons of cotton and bringing in…

You're driving through Matagorda County, a place with some serious Texas firsts! Long before Stephen F. Austin's colonists arrived in the 1820s, this was home to the Karankawa Indians. And get this – it was the landing…

On August 28, 1901, Bay City threw a party far larger than itself. The Rice Carnival celebrated the Golden Rice Harvest and the arrival of the Cane Belt Railroad, and more than 5,000 people poured in, at a time when the…

As you drive through the flat country around Bay City, you might notice ditches and canals crisscrossing the landscape. These aren't just for drainage; they're relics of an agricultural revolution. Around the year 1900…

You're passing over the Wilcox Group here - ancient coastal-plain sediment laid down around sixty million years ago, when this was swamp. Plant matter got buried and squeezed, but never with the heat and pressure to…

You're driving past the Kilbride-Barkley House, a grand dame of early 20th-century residential architecture in Bay City. Built between 1910 and 1911 by Edward John and Ann Elizabeth Kilbride, this Classical Revival home…

You're driving past the site of the Old Bay City Bank, a financial cornerstone for the Texas Gulf Coast. Established in 1898, just four years after Bay City itself was founded, this private bank was a key player in…

You're driving past the site of the Vine Grove Christian Church, a testament to the resilience of the Live Oak community. After emancipation in 1865, former slaves stayed on the land and, with the help of a white…

You're driving past Collegeport, a town that started as a promotional scheme back in 1909. Its founders aimed to unite the community with a single church, representing fourteen different denominations. This Federated…

You're driving through Matagorda County, near Bay City. In 1910, Casper Lukefahr donated land for a community school named in his honor. This school served primary students and acted as a community hub for church…

You're driving by the site of the First Baptist Church of Bay City. Organized in Red Bluff in 1889 by members of an earlier Matagorda County congregation, the church moved to Bay City in 1895. Its first sanctuary was…

You're driving through Matagorda County, one of the oldest in Texas. It was first organized way back in 1834, not as a Texas county, but as a Mexican municipality named Matagorda. Then, in 1836, it officially became a…

You're driving past the M. S. and Cora Alice Perry House, built in 1917 and 1918. It's an architectural blend of colonial revival and Queen Anne styles, designed to withstand coastal storms using layered boards and…

You're driving through Bay City, and right here is the site of the original Bay City Public Library. Organized way back in 1912, it actually started out in an insurance company office! A dedicated Library Association…

You're driving past the site of the Bay City Methodist Church. Its congregation began in 1870 with circuit-riding ministers visiting folks along the Colorado River. The church has built several structures over the…

The flat, wet prairie that made Bay City hard to settle turned out to be ideal for one thing: rice. In late 1899, A.P. Borden of Pierce broke ground for rice about three miles north of Bay City. The next year some 600…

You're cruising past the Matagorda town square, and right here is the old bandstand. Built around 1907 with money folks chipped in, this stage was the heart of the community's entertainment. Imagine concerts by the town…

You're driving past the Sargent-Rugeley House, a grand Victorian home built in 1905. It was designed with input from John Thomas Sargent, a cattleman who lost his first home to a storm. His daughter, Catherine, and her…

You're driving past a house designed to catch the breeze, no matter which way the wind blows. Alexander Hensley bought this land in 1898 and hired his architect brother to design this home. Built in 1905, it's a…

You're driving past the Holman House, built in 1908 and 1909. This beautiful Queen Anne style home was built by William Shields Holman, a Spanish-American War veteran and former Matagorda County judge. Notice its…

As you look around Palacios, it's hard to imagine this quiet town as a major military hub. But during World War II it was exactly that. A Texas National Guard camp had been out here since 1926 -- Camp Palacios, renamed…

In 1976 the first Vietnamese families arrived in Palacios -- six households, then dozens more, until several hundred refugees had settled on the northeastern edge of town. They had come out of a country that fell in…

The beautiful, calm bay you see today holds the memory of incredible violence. In September 1961, Hurricane Carla, one of the most powerful storms in U.S. history, slammed into the Texas coast. Palacios was directly in…

About a dozen miles inland from Palacios, southwest of Bay City, sits one of the most complex engineering projects in Texas: the South Texas Project Electric Generating Station. It's one of only two nuclear plants in…

Just off Palacios Point, Matagorda Bay used to have an oyster reef covering hundreds of acres -- gone by the early 1900s, torn up by dredging and generations of harvesting. In 2014, The Nature Conservancy, the Texas…

Palacios, Texas, has a rich history that dates back to the 16th century when the Karankawa people first encountered Europeans. The area was explored by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, in 1685, and his flagship…

Before it was the Shrimp Capital, Palacios was sold as a paradise. The Texas Rice Development Company laid the townsite out in 1902 on land cut from the estate of the old cattleman Abel H. 'Shanghai' Pierce, and then…

You're driving through Bay City, and right here is where a local VFW post, named for a fallen hero, got its start. The Philip H. Parker Post No. 2438 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars organized in 1940. It was named for…

You're driving past the Bay City U.S.O. Building, one of only 16 constructed in 1941 across Texas, Arizona, and Oklahoma. Built on land loaned by the Pierce Estate, it served both locals and military personnel from…

You're driving through Bay City, the hometown of Forrest Bess, a visionary artist born right here in 1911. Bess spent his early life moving around oil towns, but found his artistic calling in Bay City. He developed a…

You're driving through Matagorda County, and right here, Victor Lawrence LeTulle transformed the landscape. In 1901, he started farming rice, but his real genius was in water. He bought a canal system and built it into…

You're driving through Matagorda County, and right here, the town of Bay City owes its existence to a mining millionaire named David Swickheimer. After striking it rich in silver out in Colorado, Swickheimer turned his…

You're driving through Bay City, Texas, a town that quite literally didn't exist on paper when its founding was announced. In 1894, promoters, including a Colorado mining millionaire, bought up cow pastures with a grand…

You're driving through Brazoria County, near Bay City, where James Perry Bryan, Sr. was born in 1909. He became a lawyer, a businessman with interests in banking, real estate, and oil, and a major figure in Texas…

You're driving through Matagorda County, near where Bay City is today. Right here, in late 1836, stood Colorado Station, a small army post set up to control a vital crossing on the Colorado River. Gen. Felix Huston…

You're driving past the Cedarvale Cemetery, which got its start thanks to a tragic hunting accident. In 1896, Rufus Mathis was killed, and his burial on D.P. Moore's land spurred the creation of this cemetery. Moore…

You're driving through Matagorda County, near Bay City. Right here, you're passing through the area once known as Sexton Community. Settled in the early 1800s, this rural area's story centers around its schoolhouse.…

You're driving through Palacios, a town born from a bull pasture. Back in 1901, the land was owned by Abel Pierce, but the Texas Rice Development Company saw potential. They bought the land and began selling off tracts,…

You're driving through Matagorda County, not far from Palacios, where you can almost hear the echoes of World War II training. Right here was Camp Hulen, originally established in 1926 as a summer camp for the Texas…

You're driving past Eastview Cemetery. This cemetery traces its origin to 1907, when 1.8 acres of land were purchased from D. P. Moore. The first recorded burial was that of Henry Abram in 1912.

You're driving past the site of Bay City's first major school building. In 1901, this land was just trees and a strawberry field. The district bought it for $300 and built an eight-room school, moving classes from a…

You're driving past the site of the Palacios Colored School, a beacon of hope and resilience for African Americans in this city. Founded in the 1920s, this was the very first school for Black children here. Imagine the…

You're driving past the site of the Daily Tribune, a newspaper with roots stretching back to about 1845 in Matagorda. Imagine the stories this paper has told! It moved here to Bay City in the 1890s, just as this town…

You're driving past the Palacios Cemetery, the final resting place for this coastal community. It all started in 1905 with the death of Alice Singer, prompting the donation of land from Texas Cattle Baron A.H.…

You're driving through Matagorda County, and right here is the site of Holy Cross Catholic Church. It all started in 1847 when the Catholic Church established a new diocese in Galveston. Soon after, Polish immigrants…

You're driving past the site of the First United Methodist Church of Palacios. Organized in 1903, the congregation met in a schoolhouse before building Pioneer Hall and later a larger sanctuary. The church has served…

You're driving past the Pilkington Slough Ranch, a landmark for over a century. Its story starts with the Yeamans brothers, who fought in the Texas Revolution, though Elias and Erastus died at Goliad. Later, this land…

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…

You're driving past the site of the old Luther Hotel, built in 1903 as the Old Palacios Hotel. It started on the East Bay front, but was moved here in 1905. This place was a major resort for investors pouring into the…

You're driving past the site of the Palacios Preparatory School, which opened its doors in 1910. Founded by Martha Pearl Dickson McGuire, this was the first school in Palacios to offer courses in cultural arts alongside…

You're driving past Palacios, where a resilient Episcopal congregation has a story tied to its very building. Back in 1908, Collegeport was a new settlement across the bay. Three families there wanted an Episcopal…

You're driving past the Pybus-Koerber House in Palacios. Built in 1915 by Joseph Pybus, this home was designed by C.F. Emmons. It changed hands in 1924 to James and Ina Mae Koerber. James Koerber was a local…

You're driving through Palacios, where the First Baptist Church began in 1905. The congregation first met in homes and at a special encampment tabernacle. In 1909, they built their first dedicated sanctuary at the…

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…

You're cruising through Palacios, and right here is where a grand vision met the Texas coast. Back in 1903, the Palacios townsite company lured the Southern Pacific Railroad, and the very next year, they opened this…

You're driving past the site of Camp Hulen, originally established in 1925 as a summer training ground for the Texas National Guard. By 1940, it was leased by the War Department for anti-aircraft training, growing to…

You're driving past the W.C. Williams Building, a Romanesque Revival structure completed in Palacios back in 1909. Williams, a childhood friend of author Charles Siringo, came here in 1904 and built this brick…

You're driving past the historic grounds of the Texas Baptist Encampment, selected back in 1906. Imagine thousands of families arriving by train and wagon, ready to spend weeks here for inspirational camp meetings. It…

You're driving past the R. J. Hill Building, a prominent structure in downtown Palacios. Built in 1910 by contractor J. G. Bontrager for Robert and Kate Hill, this concrete block building originally housed a mercantile…

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.…

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…

You're driving through Palacios, and you're passing the site of Camp Hulen, named for a decorated Texas military leader. John Augustus Hulen was a Missourian who came to Texas as a boy. He rose through the ranks,…

You're driving past the Cates-Price House in Palacios, a beautiful example of early 20th-century Craftsman architecture. Designed by Winn Wood and built around 1910, this home was a showplace, even hosting former Texas…

You're driving past the Price-Farwell House, a beautiful example of early 20th-century residential design in Palacios. Lumberman John T. Price built this home in 1906, right after moving here from Tennessee. It…

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…

You're driving past the site of the First Christian Church of Bay City. Trustees purchased lots in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1904</say-as> to build their first permanent house of worship. The congregation…

On October 1, 1974, Mike and Betty Jo Prasek bought the Hillje Grocery, a small-town store southwest of El Campo that came with a meat market, a saloon, and a feed store. Quality mattered to the family, so before long…

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…

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…

You're driving past the old Bay City Post Office, a building that served this community for over seventy years. It all started back in 1894, when the county seat moved here and D.P. Moore's nephew, Joseph, became the…

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…

You're driving through what was once Matagorda County, a place that saw men like Francis L. DeSauque pass through on their way to Texas Revolution history. DeSauque, a store owner from Philadelphia, arrived in 1835 and…

Bailey Hardeman, War of 1812 soldier, Santa Fe trader, mountain man, a founder and officer of the Republic of Texas , thirteenth or fourteenth child of Thomas and Mary (Perkins) Hardeman, was born at the Thomas Hardeman…

William Demetris Lacey, signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence , was born in Virginia in 1808 and reared in Paducah, Kentucky. In 1831 he moved from Tennessee to Texas, where he established a tanyard and saddle…

Vann Settlement, also known as Van, African, and King Vann African Settlement, was a rural community on Buckner's Prairie near what is now Farm Road 521 and twelve miles southeast of Bay City in eastern Matagorda…

You're driving through Matagorda County, and right here, in what was once San Felipe de Austin, was the birthplace of Texas journalism. Godwin Cotten arrived in 1829, bringing his printing press with him. He started the…

You're driving through Matagorda County, a place Peter DeMoss helped settle way back in 1824. He was one of Stephen F. Austin's original colonists, granted a whole league of land right here. DeMoss wasn't just a farmer;…

You're driving through Matagorda County, and right here, in the early days of Texas, Moses Morrison was a key figure. Arriving in 1821, he was one of Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred colonists. By 1823, he was…

You're driving through what was once the heart of Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred colony. Right here, Robert Harris Williams arrived in Texas in December 1823, becoming one of Austin's first settlers. He received…

Collegeport is on Farm Road 1095 and the eastern shore of Tres Palacios Bay, half a mile north of Pelican Slough and two miles northeast of Palacios in southwestern Matagorda County. It was organized by the Hurd Land…

Francis Jarvis Cooke, Texas revolutionary fighter and merchant, was born on July 13, 1816, in Beaufort, Carteret County, North Carolina, the son of Henry M. and Frances Barry (Buxton) Cooke. Mrs. Cooke died in February…

DeCros Point, also known as DeCrow's Point, Decros or DeCrow's Landing, Port Cavallo, Port Cabello, and Paso Cavallo, was an early coastal community on the western end of Matagorda Peninsula at Cavallo Pass in extreme…

German Settlement, sometimes called Dutch Settlement, was on the Matagorda Peninsula midway between Cavallo Pass on the west and the mouth of Caney Creek to the east, in extreme southern Matagorda County. It was one of…

Gulf, also known as Old Gulf, Big Hill, and Gulf Hill, was near the junction of Boggy Creek and the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway, sixteen miles south of Bay City in south central Matagorda County. It was…

Hawkinsville was a plantation community seventeen miles from what is now Van Vleck in southeastern Matagorda County. It was at a site on Caney Creek, where the rich bottomlands supported a thriving plantation economy…

You're driving through what was once the wild frontier of Mexican Texas, and right here, you might have been passing by land once held by Caleb R. Bostwick. He was one of Stephen F. Austin's original colonists, arriving…

You're driving through Matagorda County, near the Tres Palacios River. Right here is where Pumphrey Burnett, one of Stephen F. Austin's original Old Three Hundred colonists, settled. He arrived in Texas as early as…

You're driving through Matagorda County, a place that was wild frontier when Daniel D. DeCrow arrived in the 1820s. He was one of Stephen F. Austin's first colonists, granted land here in 1824. DeCrow wasn't just a…

You're driving through Matagorda County, and right here is the area that was once Elliott's Ferry. It started as a crucial crossing point on the Colorado River, even hosting an army post in the winter of 1836 to guard…

You're driving through Matagorda County, and right here is the site of Hawkinsville, a community named for James Boyd Hawkins. Hawkins arrived from North Carolina around 1845 with over a hundred slaves, and he…

You're driving through Matagorda County, a place that saw a bit of Texas history, thanks to men like James Steen Montgomery. He arrived in Texas in 1836, right in the thick of things, and enlisted in the Republic of…

You're driving through Matagorda County, and right here is where Peter Powell staked his claim. He was an Englishman who came to Texas from Maryland, possibly as early as 1819, before Stephen F. Austin's colony was even…

You're driving through Matagorda County, a place that was once the edge of the Texas frontier. Right here, back in 1825, Lawrence Ramey arrived as one of Stephen F. Austin's first colonists. He wasn't just a settler;…

You're driving through what is now Matagorda County, a land that was wild frontier when Amos Rawls arrived in 1824. He was one of Stephen F. Austin's first colonists, granted a huge stretch of land along Caney Creek.…

You're driving through Matagorda County, land that was once the frontier for Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred colonists. One of those early settlers was Benjamin Rawls. He arrived around 1824, likely from Missouri,…

You're driving through Matagorda County, a place that was the wild frontier when Daniel Rawls arrived in the 1820s. He was one of Stephen F. Austin's original colonists, granted over a league of land. Imagine Rawls, a…

You're driving through Matagorda County, where John Rugeley settled after moving from Alabama in 1840. He wasn't just any planter; Rugeley was a captain in the Texas army, leading an expedition against Rafael Vásquez in…

You're driving through the heart of early Texas, a land still wild and untamed. Right here, in what is now Matagorda County, you're near where William Smeathers, a veteran of the War of 1812, helped Stephen F. Austin…

You're driving through what is now Matagorda County, an area that was part of Stephen F. Austin's original colony. Right here, Owen H. Stout was one of the very first settlers, arriving probably in 1822. He took an oath…

You're driving through Matagorda County, the heart of Texas's early frontier. Right here, back in August of 1824, a man named Henry Williams was granted land as one of Stephen F. Austin's original Old Three Hundred…

You're driving through Matagorda County, maybe near La Grange, following the footsteps of Thomas Williams. He was one of Stephen F. Austin's first Old Three Hundred colonists, arriving in Texas from Arkansas in 1821.…

Gainesmore, also known as At Last, was on Farm Road 457 seventeen miles south of Bay City in eastern Matagorda County. The community was founded on the banks of Caney Creek sometime between June 1901 and February 1,…

Liveoak (Live Oak) Community is near Live Oak Bayou and Farm Road 2540 ten miles southeast of Bay City in southeastern Matagorda County. The Live Oak Bayou area had probably been an Indian campground before Anglo…

Podo was a rural settlement nine miles northeast of Bay City in northeastern Matagorda County. Located in an area of the rich Caney Creek bottomlands once known as plantation row, it was within the former plantation of…

Turtle Bay is a rural community on State Highway 35 four miles north of Turtle Bay, from which it took its name, and four miles west of Palacios in southwestern Matagorda County. The area was used primarily as rangeland…

You're driving through Matagorda County, heading towards East Matagorda Bay. Right here is the Big Boggy National Wildlife Refuge, established in July of 1983. This refuge covers over 4,000 acres of coastal prairie and…

Ashby is off Farm Road 1095 just north of a residential development called Tres Palacios Oaks, nine miles northeast of Palacios in west central Matagorda County. Before settlers arrived, the area had been a campsite of…

Ashwood is at the junction of Farm roads 1728 and 3156, thirteen miles north of Bay City in northeastern Matagorda County. The railroad reached this town on Caney Creek when a branch of the New York, Texas and Mexican…

Buckeye is on Farm Road 1468 and the Missouri Pacific Railroad, nine miles southwest of Bay City and four miles south of Markham in central Matagorda County. It was named by J. W. Stoddard and A. A. Plotner for their…

Cedar Lake, on Farm Road 2611 just west of the Brazoria county line in southeastern Matagorda County, was named for a cedar brake surrounding a nearby lake. A post office operated there from 1848 until 1855. In…

Coulterville, also known as Culver, was in Buckner's Prairie, fifteen miles east of Bay City in eastern Matagorda County. In 1888 William D. Culver became the first postmaster, and by 1891 a community with two general…

Manhattan was the name of a proposed town in southeastern Matagorda County to be located at the mouth of Caney Creek on East Matagorda Bay, the easternmost part of which, at the junction of the mainland and the…

Northern Headquarters was a rice-growing community just west of the Colorado River and seven miles north of Markham in northern Matagorda County. It was developed in the early 1900s and was founded by and named after…

Pledger is at the junction of Farm roads 1301 and 1728, nineteen miles north of Bay City in the northern corner of Matagorda County. The area's first settlers were brought by Stephen F. Austin , who granted titles to…

Portsmouth, known earlier as Palacios Point, was a bayside settlement located on Matagorda Bay in the extreme southwestern part of mainland Matagorda County, eight miles across Tres Palacios Bay from what later became…

Tres Palacios, also known as Tidehaven, was a port community on the Tres Palacios River south of Hawley and near what is now Farm Road 459, thirteen miles southwest of Bay City in western Matagorda County. Pumphrey…

You're driving through Matagorda County, and right here is the site of the first Roman Catholic Church established by Euro-Americans in this county. Built in Polish Village, this church has seen its share of hardship.…

You're driving past what used to be Selkirk Island, named for William Selkirk. He arrived in Texas from New York in 1822, one of Stephen F. Austin's original settlers and a surveyor for the colony. In 1824, he was part…

You're driving through El Campo, and this marker tells the story of how this town got its schools. It all started around 1891 with a simple wooden building. But El Campo Independent School District officially organized…

The Karankawa were the people of the Texas coast for thousands of years before anyone else arrived. They ranged from Galveston Bay to Corpus Christi, living on the barrier islands and estuaries, traveling by dugout…

You're driving past the El Campo Library Building. This distinctive structure, completed in 1940, showcases the Art Moderne style with its unique entryway, lighting, and signage. It began as a branch of the Wharton…

El Campo began as a rail stop called Prairie Switch, planted in 1882 along the New York, Texas and Mexican Railway. That line, chartered in 1880 to link New York toward Mexico, earned the nickname the Macaroni Line…

Around 1901, farmers here bet on a crop that reshaped the coastal prairie: rice, which needs standing water on flat, leveled ground. The grassland was ideal, but rice demands a steady flood, so growers engineered one.…

As rail and rice pulled newcomers to the prairie, Central European families put down deep roots around El Campo. Many were Czech and German immigrants, part of the wave that settled the Texas coastal plain in the late…

You're driving past El Campo, a town that started life as Prairie Switch in 1882. It was just a camp along the New York, Texas, and Mexican Railroad, serving as a hub for ranchers. By the 1890s, it was a growing town…

You're driving past the site where Texas's Capitol briefly stood! On September 8th, 1962, El Campo played host to Governor Culp Krueger as part of the Operation Home Town Program. This initiative aimed to foster…

You're driving past the site of the First National Bank of El Campo, a financial pillar that grew right along with this railroad town. It all started in 1890, when folks trusted their money to the safe at Koch and Poole…

You're driving through Wadsworth, a town that got its start around 1909. Look to your right, and you're passing the site of the original Sacred Heart Catholic Church. It was a unique 2-story building, serving as both a…

If you feel a unique European influence in El Campo, you're picking up on its deep Czech roots. This corner of Wharton County sits in the 'Czech Belt' of Texas. When you see a sign for a bakery selling kolaches, you're…

As you look out at the farmland surrounding El Campo, you might think it’s naturally flat. But the perfect, table-top level of a rice field is a marvel of modern engineering. To grow rice, farmers have to create a…

El Campo, a small town nestled in the heart of rice country, holds a quiet pride. The name itself, 'The Country' or 'The Field,' speaks to the strong agricultural roots that still define the area. You can almost smell…

The railroad tracks that parallel the highway here are the reason El Campo exists. But this wasn't just any railroad. It was the New York, Texas and Mexican Railway, financed in the 1880s by an Italian count named…

On the evening of the twenty third of February, 2021, a twenty one year old named Shane Singleton drove to a house in El Campo to buy a firearm. The man selling it got into the front passenger seat of Singleton's car.…

El Campo calls itself the Pearl of the Prairies, a name it got from railroad lights that could be seen for miles across the flat country at night. But what actually built the place was water on dirt. The El Campo Rice…

You're driving through El Campo, a town that owes its very existence to the dedication of Ennis Adolphus Greer. Back in 1913, at just seventeen, Greer started teaching Black students here, with only seventeen kids. He…

You're driving through El Campo, a town that started as a humble railroad camp called Prairie Switch back in 1882. Cowboys working the vast cattle ranches around here called it the 'Pearl of the Prairies.' In 1890,…

You're driving past El Campo, where Catholic families, many of Irish and Czech descent, settled in the late 1800s. The bishop purchased land in 1897 to start a parish, which saw its first mass in 1898. The congregation…

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…

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…

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, 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.…

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…

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 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.

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

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,…

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…