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History in a Watersoaked
Pecan Shell
Started
in 1846 as Indian Point, the town almost immediately entered into a rivalry
with Port Lavaca.
Lavaca had taken the role of leading port south of Galveston
after Linnville was burned by Comanches in 1840.
Indianola is Texas'
Queen of ghost towns. While Thurber
(west of Ft. Worth) was nearly
as colorful, Thurber's
history had to do with labor relations, immigrant miners, infrastructure, manufacturing
and railroading - while Indianola was a port of debarkation for the thousands
of European immigrants (plus a few boatloads of camels).
Today, they
have only one thing in common - hardly any trace of either town exists. |
| Indianola
vintage photo courtesy texasoldphotos.com |
In
1845, thousands of Germans were stranded at Indianola because their agents had
gone broke. Disease claimed many lives on the shore, and when others attempted
to walk to their destinations of New
Braunfels and Fredericksburg,
they infected the established populace, causing hundreds of more deaths. Many
who couldn't finish their journey settled in the towns of Victoria,
Cuero
and Gonzales.
A
storm hit the Texas coast
in 1851. It was referred to as "The Great Storm" until the bigger ones arrived.
During the Civil War, Indianola was occupied by the Union Army and
there were enough skirmishes to keep both sides occupied. After the war "occupation"
was peaceful and relations cordial. Discord would stand in the way of business
and in Indianola business was everyone's interest.
As a port to rival
New Orleans, Indianolia was well on its way. Ships had started sailing directly
from New York and New England. The New England ships brought cargoes of ice -
cut in the winter months. A newspaper called the Indianola Bulletin had
correspondents as far inland as Wilson County (30 miles east of San
Antonio).
Besides storms, a fire did damage in 1867 and the
same year brought a yellow fever epidemic. |
The first major hurricane to hit a fairly populated Indianola was
in 1875. Nearly all of the debris was used in rebuilding a stronger and
more secure city. The second storm of 1886 totally demoralized Indianolans
and forced them to move inland. In some cases the few houses that were left standing
were moved inland to places as distant as Victoria,
Cuero
and even Gonzales. The huge
ice warehouse, second in size only to the courthouse, was floated across the bay
and converted into a residence. As one of the few remaining buildings - it had
proven its strength.
Indianolia could've rebuilt again, but the amount
of silt and sand blown in by the storm made the bay too shallow for the ships
that mattered.
Three railroads had Indianola in their name*
and had varying degrees of success. "Warehouse Row" - was Indianolia's
cash cow. Although the warehouses had different owners, they were a select group
of businessmen, which made for a near-monopoly. |
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Remains
of the first La Salle monument near the Indianola Cemetery
Photo Courtesy
Ralph Ware, May, 2004 | | | |
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La Salle's Statue
during WWII
Old Postcard |
| Beef:
It's what's for dinner - next year
Even prior to the Civil War, as
early as 1848, companies in Indianola were canning beef. Or shall we say
they were experimenting with the process. The initial test market was the shipping
industry since they needed food that wouldn't spoil on long voyages.
After the war, the glut of cattle made beef valueless. Cattle were slaughtered
for their hides and tallow and the meat was left to rot. Experiments were conducted,
equipment built and Indianola was the first port to ship refrigerated beef to
Eastern markets in 1869.
The reading of Indianola's history is
rewarding both for its influence on early Texas and for the drama and tragedy
of its brief life.
© John Troesser |
Indianola
Remnants
by Mike Cox
Indianola, once the “Queen City of the West,” recovered from
a killer hurricane in 1875 but it did not survive a second devastating storm in
1886.
Modern day visitors find few remnants of the once prosperous Calhoun
County seaport, but they’re looking in the wrong place. If you want to see some
of Indianola’s stately Victorian houses, just go to Victoria or Cuero... more
The Story of Indianola
by Maggie Van Ostrand
On my bookshelf sat a slim volume of poems by
one Jeff McLemore.... The name of the book, published in 1904, is "Indianola
and Other Poems,"...
Indianola
A
poem by Jeff McLemore published in 1904.
Port Lavaca
Hotels | Port
Aransas Hotels
Corpus
Christie Hotels | Victoria
Hotels
Indianola
Area Hotels - Book Here & Save |
Indianola
Related Stories: |
*The
Indianola Railroad Company
Indianola and GuadalupeValley Railway
The Indianola,
San Antonio and El Paso Railroad
First published July 2001 |
| Indianola
and Matagorda Island: 1837-1887 |
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| Indianola:
The Mother of Western Texas |
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