TexasEscapes.com HOME Welcome to Texas Escapes
A magazine written by Texas
Custom Search
New   |   Texas Towns   |   Ghost Towns   |   Counties   |   Trips   |   Features   |   Columns   |   Architecture   |   Images   |   Archives   |   Site Map

 TX La Salle County location
La Salle County

Counties
Texas Counties


Texas Towns
A - Z

Cotulla Hotels

More Hotels


GARDENDALE, TEXAS


La Salle County, South Texas

283101N, 0991258W (28.5169303 -99.2161435)

I-35
About 5 Miles N of Cotulla the county seat
About 90 Miles S of San Antonio
Population: 59 (1990)

Book Hotel Here › Cotulla Hotels

History in a Pecan Shell

Gardendale was a planned agricultural community developed by a San Antonio developer in 1908 to take advantage of the newly irrigated acreage in South Texas.

With rail connections on both the International-Great Northern and the San Antonio, Uvalde and Gulf railroads, the success of the 16,000 acre project seemed assured.

Newspaper ads lured farmers from the Midwest with land priced at around $25 per acre. The community, with its appealing name, was granted a post office in 1909. By 1914, the town still had only twenty-five people which slowly grew to seventy-five by the mid 1920s.

But even though the land was irrigated, many of the farmers plots were too small to be viable. Caught between the inadequate plots and the Great Depression, many farms failed.

The town lost its school in the mid-1940s and whatever lone business remained had closed by the mid 1960s. The designation of “ghost town” had been applied by a La Salle county historian, although the population of fifty-nine (given in 1975) wasn’t too far off the peak population of the 1920s. The population was still given as fifty-nine for the 1990 census.



Take a road trip

South Texas

Gardendale, Texas Nearby Towns:
Cotulla the county seat
See La Salle County

Book Hotel Here:
Cotulla Hotels | More Hotels

Texas Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories, landmarks and recent or vintage photos, please contact us.


Texas Escapes Online Magazine »   Archive Issues » Home »
TEXAS TOWNS & COUNTIES TEXAS LANDMARKS & IMAGES TEXAS HISTORY & CULTURE TEXAS OUTDOORS MORE
Texas Counties
Texas Towns A-Z
Texas Ghost Towns

TEXAS REGIONS:
Central Texas North
Central Texas South
Texas Gulf Coast
Texas Panhandle
Texas Hill Country
East Texas
South Texas
West Texas

Courthouses
Jails
Churches
Schoolhouses
Bridges
Theaters
Depots
Rooms with a Past
Monuments
Statues

Gas Stations
Post Offices
Museums
Water Towers
Grain Elevators
Cotton Gins
Lodges
Stores
Banks

Vintage Photos
Historic Trees
Cemeteries
Old Neon
Ghost Signs
Signs
Murals
Gargoyles
Pitted Dates
Cornerstones
Then & Now

Columns: History/Opinion
Texas History
Small Town Sagas
Black History
WWII
Texas Centennial
Ghosts
People
Animals
Food
Music
Art

Books
Cotton
Texas Railroads

Texas Trips
Texas Drives
Texas State Parks
Texas Rivers
Texas Lakes
Texas Forts
Texas Trails
Texas Maps
USA
MEXICO
HOTELS

Site Map
About Us
Privacy Statement
Disclaimer
Contributors
Staff
Contact Us

 
Website Content Copyright Texas Escapes LLC. All Rights Reserved