Located in the city of Newton, the Newton County Courthouse was built in 1903 and has architectural features (Second Empire) found only one other courthouse in Texas (Shackleford County).
On February 15, 1932, a bloody jailbreak took place. The county sheriff and a citizen coming to his aid were killed in gunfire trying to prevent the break. The jailbreaker, who had murdered his wife the night before, was killed by another citizen arriving on the scene.
In 2000, a catastrophic fire erupted and spread quickly throughout the building causing the bell tower to collapse through the center of the structure. However, the courthouse was not completely destroyed and was restored to its original features after a $6 million renovation.
Indianola is a rather famous ghost town in the state of Texas. It is a town that lays on the coast of the state, in the Matagorda bay. Having started in August of 1846, it is said to have almost immediately started a rivalry with the nearby town of Port Lavaca (originally called Lavaca). According to the Texas State Historical Association handbook, the two was started by two men named Sam Addison White and William M. Cook. Just two years prior, in 1844, a stretch of beach near the point had been selected by Car, Prince of Braunfels as the landing place of immigrants bound for west Texas.The area was briefly referred as Karlshafen. The first house was build in 1845 by man named Johann Schwartz.
A WWII Post Card
During the Mexican War, Indianola, still referred to as Indian Point back then, was 'firmly established deep water port'. In 1846, Anglo landowners came into the area and started selling plots of land. The first post office opened in 1847 (which is a really big point in being recognized as an official town).
In 1845, it is said that thousands of Germans were stranded at Indianola because their agents had gone broke. Disease claimed many lives of those on shore, and those that tried to walk to New Braunfels or Fredricksburg ended up infected their destinations. Those that couldn't make the distance settled in the nearby towns of Victoria, Cuero, and Gonzales.
Allegedly, the town had experimented with canning beef in 1848, their first exports traveling to eastern markets in 1868. The town incorporated in 1853. It was originally the county seat of Calhoun County.
"Many currents of the mainstream of Texas history flow in this onetime port. Pineda explored the coast in 1519 and La Salle planted a settlement near here in 1685. Once an Indian trading point, it was a major seaport from 1844 to 1875. Texas colonists, including Germans led by Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels, entered through Indianola. "
Indianola has had a bad history with hurricanes, almost like as if it's a town that's not supposed to be, or at least, not to be large.
Indianola, 1857
In 1851, a storm hit the town, and it was called "The Great Storm". During the Civil War, there were Union Army soldiers that occupied the town. Indianola was a port to rival other places such as New Orleans. There were ships that came to the port all the way from New York and New England, bringing by cargoes of ice.
"Forty-niners", supplies for frontier forts, and experimental Army camels were landed here landed here. During the Civil War Indianola and Fort Esperanza, which controlled the gateway to Indianola through Pass Cavallo, were objectives of Federal blockading vessels. Pass Cavallo, ten miles south, was one of several entrances to the inside waterway created by Matagorda Peninsula and the offshore islands extending to the Rio Grande. To deny Confederate use of this waterway for commerce through Mexico the Federals had to seize control of these entrances. Before Confederate defenses at Fort Esperanza were completed, two Federal steamers slipped through Pass Cavallo to Indianola and on October 31, 1862 demanded the surrender of Lavaca (now Port Lavaca) to the northwest.
The Confederate command refused, stood off the naval guns with land batteries, and forced the withdrawal of the Federal ships. Federal forces attacked Fort Esperanza November 22, 1863. The Confederates withstood the assault of naval and land forces for six days then spiked their guns, destroyed their magazines, and withdrew to the mainland. Indianola then fell December 23. On Christmas Eve, Federal and Confederate forces clashed at Norris Bridge, eight miles north. Two days later Lavaca was occupied and the entire Matagorda-Lavaca Bay area remained in Federal control until the war's end. Indianola was partially destroyed by a hurricane in 1875 and completely destroyed by another in 1886. A memorial to Texans who served the Confederacy. (1963) "
(And yes, there were absolutely camels brought to Texas through Indianola.)
There is a historical marker about this topic which says,
"No immigrants arriving in Indianola were quite as exotic as the seventy-five camels that came ashore in 1856 and 1857 from Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt and Turkey. As early as 1836, politicians, diplomats and the military were considering the importation of camels for use in North America’s desert wastelands. In 1853, secretary of war Jefferson Davis, a man familiar with harsh desert conditions, proposed to congress the use of camels as pack animals in the desert southwest. Congress approved the request on March 3, 1855. After a three-month voyage from the Mediterranean, the Fashion entered Matagorda Bay on May 13, 1856 and landed the camels at the wharf at powder horn. Thirty-four camels, ranging from Bactrians (two-humped variety), Arabians (one-hump variety) and a hybrid-cross between the two, came ashore. Many residents of Indianola recalled the unusual sight of the camels being led through the streets. By February 1857, a second government shipment of forty-one camels arrived in Indianola. Military camel caravans carrying supplies became more common in the Texas Hill Country between the camels’ home of Camp Verde and San Antonio. The camels, along with traditional livestock, were used in the summer of 1857 to survey the great wagon road between Arizona and California, now known as Route 66. The camels were also used in 1859 and 1860 for reconnaissance in west Texas, surveying routes to the U.S./Mexico border. In 1861, upon the outbreak of the Civil War, all U.S. military assets, including the camels, came into possession of confederate troops and, after the war, the camels were auctioned off. "
The Great Camel Experiment Historical Marker | Taken by me
A newspaper called the 'Indianola Bulletin' had correspondents as far as Wilson county, which is right outside of San Antonio.
In 1867, a fire damaged the town, and yellow fever came.
It is stated that in 1875 the first major hurricane hit the town Around 150 to 300 people are estimated to have been the storm's fatalities. The debris from the storm was used to rebuild the city stronger; but in 1886 another storm came around and apparently 'demoralized' the citizens. These people moved inland to the nearby towns of Victoria, Cuero, Edna, and Gonzales, with some of the original structures standing today in these towns. Apparently there was a large ice house in town, and it floated across the bay somewhere, being converted in a house.
Even though the people of the town could have rebuilt once again, apparently the bay was too shallow for the ships of major importance. Initially, there was supposed to be a railroad that would have connected Indianola to San Antonio. But the hurricanes discouraged investors, and they decided to go to Galveston as the railroad port. but then, there was hurricane in Galveston, and so shipping traffic was then sent to Houston.
Monument to La Salle, one of the first explorers to come the area.
After the hurricane of 1886, the county seat of Calhoun County was then moved to Port Lavaca, which is about 30 minutes away or so from Indianola. On October 4th, 1887, the post was permanently closed and town declared dead. Allegedly, most of the cite of the city is now under water, due to storm erosion.
Indianola was of course one of the areas hit by Hurricane Harvey in 2017. While there was some soil erosion, there doesn't seem to have been significant damage to what was left of the town.
Indianola, 2018
Though unincorporated, and a ghost town, Indianola is still lived in today. It is adjacent to Magnolia beach which attracts visitors from the local areas to fish and hang out.
Hawley/Deming's Bridge
Originally known as Deming's Bridge, Hawley started out in 1857 when a man named Edwin A. Deming build a bridge over the Tres Palacios River. It is located in Matagorda County, about a mile east of State Highway 71. The area was once used as a meeting place by the local settlers as early as 1850, and there was a log church in 1852. According to the TSHA handbook, there was land deeded for a cemetery and church in 1854.
A post office was operated in the 1860's, closed in 1866, then reopened in 1872. In 1861, the town was used during the Civil War but the Confederate reserve infantry unit the, Trespalacios Coast Guard. A cattle company was headquartered south of the town by Jonathan Edwards Pierce, a friend of Edwin Deming.
There was a storm and/or a fire that hit the town in 1875 destroying the church (which was called the Tres Palacios Baptist Church), but it kept its population of 300 people. In the mid 1880s, the town grew to 500 around ten years later. The church was rebuilt as a two story building, still Baptist, but on the second floor there was a Masonic meeting lodge.
In 1899, the town changed names from Deming's Bridge to Hawley. The original name had gone into disuse with the exception of a school called 'Deming's Bridge School'. The school eventually met its 'demise' at some point in the future, I am assuming through rot. The historical marker for the Deming's Bridge Community reads,
"The Deming's Bridge community grew up around a wooden bridge built over the Tres Palacios River at this site in 1857 for Edward A. Deming, owner of land along the west side of the stream. The crossing provided by Deming's Bridge became a natural gathering place for settlers of western Matagorda County.
Tres Palacios Baptist Church, site of many community activities, was established on the east side of the river. The Deming's Bridge Post Office opened in 1858, with Edwin A. Deming serving as postmaster until it was discontinued in 1866. Reinstated in 1872, the post office name was changed to Hawley in 1899. It closed again in 1903 when it was moved to the new settlement of Blessing (2 miles west). A Masonic hall, established in 1874, was also moved to Blessing after location of the railroad there caused a population shift.
Hawley Cemetery originated as a two-acre plot of land called Deming's Bridge Cemetery. Among the burials are the graves of brothers and noted cattle ranchers Abel Head "Shanghai" Pierce (1834-1900) and Jonathan Edwards Pierce (1839-1915). Jonathan Pierce donated land to enlarge the cemetery and was instrumental in changing its name in 1898 in honor of Texas Senator Robert B. Hawley (1849-1921)."
The historical marker is in front of one of the original pieces of wood that was used in making the bridge. The wood is huge, giant piece of log that is chained to some very old looking metal. For some reason, the whole thing is in a cemetery (Hawley Cemetery). The cemetery seems to be the original cemetery for the area, as when I went in 2020, there some very old graves there.
Hawley cemetery is also a historical marker.
Back in the 1890's the town of Hawley had 17 businesses. Jonathan Pierce was the postmaster, and apparently renamed the town as Hawley since there was a benefactor who appointed his son into the Navy. In 1903, the New York, Texas, and Mexican Railway was encroaching close to the area and Pierce donated land to ensure that the railroad would pass through the area. With this land donation, the town of Blessing was born. When Blessing came around, the post office and Masonic lodge moved there, turning Hawley into a ghost town. Blessing is still around though.
New Gulf
New Gulf is a company town that was created in 1928 by the Texas Gulf Sulphur Company (now Texasgulf). It was built in Wharton county before most of the area reportedly had paved roads. Apparently it was named through a contest that was employee only. The winning entry was submitted by a woman named Marie Ertz, that worked at the Houston. Apparently, the first town created by Texasgulf was called Gulf.
The town was built with 400 houses that ranged from 1-3 bedrooms. These houses were leased to employees. Apparently the town had a 'downtown' area, a single four lane road with essential businesses on either side, and a movie theater (I am not sure if any remnants of these are still around). New Gulf had its own post office, and the company provided a hospital, library, school, and golf course. In 1940 the population was 1586, the highest it ever was. The area is described as being semi isolated, with the community being very close knit. Reportedly the people would barely venture out to even Boling, which is just 3 miles away. At it's height, the town had as many 15 businesses, including a cafe, 2 dry goods stores, 2 grocery stores, 2 pharmacies, a barbershop, a tailor, and three garages. Eventually 4 churches were created, Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian. The year of its creation, an independent school district was formed. Lago and Newgulf, Texas had the elementary schools, and Boling had the high school. The town started to decline after WWII as the demand for sulphur decreased. Texas Gulf Sulphur built new plants and the employees were eventually laid off.
The company started selling empty houses in 1961. Apparently in the 1980 census there were only 1000 residents in town. By 1990 only 100 of the company houses remained, and most of the residents did their shopping in Wharton. The post office closed in 1993, and the Newgulf School merged with the Boling school.
A skeleton crew was maintained through the 90's, and at some point it seems that the Wharton electric company may have bought out the original plant. According to the TSHA, the town is on top of the Boling Dome, an underground rock structure that contains petroleum, sulfur, and salt. In 2009, the estimated population was 10.
In 2020, I took went on a visit to the area. I drove through Wharton, then Boling, then got close to Newgulf. From more than ten miles away, I could see the abandoned smokestacks in the sky, which was honestly really frightening. There was something so ominous about seeing parts of this abandoned warehouse in the sky. When I drove into town, there was a noticeable emptiness about it all. There was an abandoned building that looked like it had serviced something before, and a bus stop that looked like it hadn't been used in years. If I remember correctly, there also seemed to have been a mount to some sort of stand that seemed to be removed at some point.
The company houses are still there, and very noticeably similar. At this point, many people have painted over the company white, there were red and blue, and various colored houses. It was a Saturday, so of course everyone was home. I didn't feel right going around taking pictures of peoples' houses.
I made my way to the old plant and saw a sign that said no trespassing. There didn't seem to be anyone working, but the last thing I wanted was for someone to call the cops on me. Like I said before, it seems that an electric company from Wharton seems to own the buildings now. There were company trucks parked in a gated lot.
I drove back to the main part of town, unsure of which road was the right one, since google maps had told me that there was still school there. To tell you the truth, the town was giving me creeps, since it was way too similar. I kind of got that cultish feel like Hackdirt in Oblivion. A lot of the land in the area seems to have been sold to farmers though, there was a lot of private areas. Near the back of the town are newer houses, that seem to have been built in the last 20 years. This seems to be an affluent area of the town.
Later on when I went back to the town in January of 2021, I decided to just say fuck it, and went in the plant anyway. There seemed to be someone else curious about the old plant, but they drove away once seeing the trespassing sign. I was actually pretty disappointed, there wasn't much of interest when driving further into the plant. There were some abandoned buildings that either had the windows boarded up or others that had them taken out. Really, the only marker to signify the history of the town are the two long stacks that are noticeable from miles away. It seems that everything that made the town come to be is essentially gone.
I was hoping to see some sort of remnants of the downtown, but it is all gone. I assume that maybe the large open field when entering the town may have been it.
The school is still there, and still in use. In 2029 it will turn 100 years old.
As far as I know, there don't seem to be any historical markers in this area, but I may be wrong. Also, I am unsure of what cemetery the original people of the town used, and what is closest buy. Probably something from Boling. Apparently there is more history to the town that can be found at the museum in Wharton.
Texana
Texana was founded in 1832 by Dr. Francis F. Wells and his sister in law, Pamelia McNut Porter, in what is now the south central part of Jackson County. The town was originally named Santa Anna after Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, who was a popular Mexican liberal, soldier, and politician. In 1835 Antonio Santa Anna had 'proven himself an enemy of republican government', and the residents changed the name of the town to Texana. During the Texas revolution of 1835-36, the town served as a port of entry and training camp for many of the volunteers that came from various parts of the US. Texana was the original county seat of Jackson county, incorporated as a municipality in 1840. According to the TSHA, on January 2nd, 1850, a school called 'Texana Academy', also called 'Texana College', was chartered. It did not teach a full range of courses, so many students were forced to transfer to other schools to finish their education. It didn't have any religious restrictions, nor was it affiliated with any religious group, unlike most of the school in its day. I am assuming that it disappeared with the town when it was deserted.
By 1880, the town had acquired a regular steamboat service, along with mail and stage routes. There was a booming business section, and they even had their own newspaper called the 'Clarion'. In 1882, Texana was a thriving port town and had as many as twenty ships docking a week.
Image by Bill Matthews
In 1883, there was an inquiry from the investors of the New York, Texas, and Mexican Railroad if they wanted to have the railroad run through their town. Very little information can be found about this section, but according to museum dedicated to Texana, they told me that the people of Texana actually did not want the railroad running through town. Because of this decision, the railroad ended up bypassing Texana, and created the town of Edna. The railroad in Edna (which was only about 10 minutes away) essentially killed Texana, as many people and businesses moved to the new town. By 1884, Texana became a ghost town.
The Texana Museum
In 1968, congress approved the formation of a lake using the area of old Texana. The lake was formed by Palmetto Bend Dam, and completed in 1979. The old townsite was turned into the lake/dam combo now operated by the Lavaca-Navidad River Authority in Jackson County. Supposedly the formation of the lake took away a few driving routes to other parts of the county, like the small town of Vanderbilt, though I am unsure how true that is. Granted, I don't think I could prove or disprove this anecdote. The lake houses all sorts of wildlife, such as Gar, Catfish, crabs and more. By the lake is a small cemetery from the 1800s, called 'Sanford Cemetery'. It is gated off to the public by LNRA. LNRA is also in charge of the outdoor complex known as 'Brackenridge Park' where people can camp, attend events, and even get married.
image from LNRA website
At the park there is the old church from Texana, which people can rent out for their ceremony. The park also has the family cemetery belonging to the Brackenridge family, rather hidden in the woods of the park. The area was first selected by John Adams Brackenridge when his daughter Elizabeth Anne died on July 16th, 1856 at the age of 8. Not far from the cemetery is the site where the Brackenridge family used to live in their large house known as Fernwood. It has seen been torn down.
Fernridge
[SOURCES]
wikipedia
http://usgenwebsites.org/TXJackson/texana_info.htm
https://atlas.thc.state.tx.us/
http://www.texasescapes.com/TexasGhostTowns/IndianolaTexas/IndianolaTx.htm
https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/indianola-tx https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/hawley-tx-matagorda-county https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/newgulf-tx https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/texana-academy https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/texana-tx https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/lake-texana http://www.lnra.org/home 'The Great Camel Experiment' Historical Marker 'Indianola' Historical Marker 'Deming's Bridge' HM
Historic Freedmen's Gregory School African American Library #PastForward @SavePlacesLive @SavingPlaces #ThisPlaceMatters #thisplacemattershouston #ThisPlaceMattersHOU #ThisPlaceMatters #PastForward #txhistory (at The African American Library at The Gregory School)
