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Jackson County TX
Jackson County
Edna Hotels

GANADO, TEXAS

Home of Tex the Longhorn and his sidekick Freckles

Jackson County, Texas Gulf Coast

29°2'28"N 96°30'44"W (29.041111, -96.512136)
Highway 59
9 miles E of Edna
34 miles E of Victoria
38 miles NE of Port Lavaca
Just W of Louise and El Campo
Population: 2,003 (2010) 1,915 (2000) 1,701 (1990)

Book Hotel Here › Edna Hotels
Longhorn in Ganada, Texas

Tex the Longhorn and his sidekick Freckles

"On Highway 172, south of Ganada, is this steer which I had decided, years ago, was the steer I wanted to photograph to represent the breed (and it finally posed). As you will notice its color is Burnt Orange and White, too." - Ken Rudine Team, June 2008 photo.

History in a Rice Hull

Jackson County’s “second city,” Ganado was originally known as Mustang Settlement, after nearby Mustang Creek. Cattle ranching was the primary economic engine and herds were driven to Louisiana for sale and later to Kansas City. That came to an abrupt end with the coming of the railroad in 1882.

A railroad official is credited with the name Ganado - which is Spanish for “herd.” The name was well established when the post office opened a short time later.

Scandinavian immigrants bought land and began farming in 1891. A second wave of immigration brought Germans and Bohemians in the 1880s and 1890s.

By 1914 the town was thriving with a rice mill and storage facilities, 750 citizens, a school district and a weekly newspaper.
Ganado TX - Ganado Theater

Ganado Theatre
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, August 2011
More Texas Theatres

Ganado, Texas masonic building
The Ganado Masonic Lodge.
TE Photo, 6-03
More Texas Lodges
Rice Elevators in Ganado
More cubic feet than the rest of town’s buildings combined
TE Photo, 6-03
More Texas Grain Elevators
Ganado, Texas rice elevators
TE Photos, 6-03
Ganado fire truck
TE Photos, 6-03

Ganado Texas Forum

  • Subject: His name is "Tex"...
    You can imagine the surprise and pride that my husband had when he was searching for an article in our Ganado community, when he ran across a picture on Texas Escapes of our baby "Tex" and his sidekick "Freckles". Tex has been part of our family since 1999, when we bought him at 5 months old. We wanted a longhorn to put on our own "little piece of Texas". Since then, his picture has been taken by scores of folks who drive up and down Hwy. 172. Some have driven up the drive and ask to pet him and get close up shots and he's always a willing subject. I always knew that someday he would be on a postcard or something similar and here we are!

    Today he's approx. 1200 lbs with a horn spread of 8' 1" (including the curl). We invite anyone to come on by and visit....

    Thanks for making our boy a celebrity! - Clyde & Gail McDonald, Ganado, TX, February 22, 2009

  • Subject: THE GANADO THEATER
    AS A YOUNG LAD OF 12 YEARS OF AGE MY FAMILY MOVED TO GANADO WHERE MY FATHER WAS TRANSFERRED BY HUMBLE OIL. THE GANADO THEATER WAS ABOUT ALL THE ENTERTAINMENT THERE WAS IN THE TOWN OUTSIDE OF FOOTBALL. THE OLD GANADO THEATER HAD NO MARQUEE AND HAD A SIGN OUT FRONT THAT SAID SIMPLY GANADO. IT WAS PART OF THE LONG THEATER CHAIN, NOW EXTINCT, WAS RUN BY A LITTLE OLD LADY NAMED MRS. STAHALLA AND BELIEVE YOU ME SHE MADE US KIDS BEHAVE ON SATURDAYS. SHE WAS NOT ABOVE CALLING PARENTS TO COME GET THEIR WAYWARD BRATS. THE OLD THEATER HAD A BALCONY FOR WHITES AND ANOTHER ONE FOR BLACKS UP INTO THE 60S. THE GANADO THEATER ( THAT'S WHAT IT WAS CALLED THEN SHOWED 2ND AND 3RD RUN MOVIES, ADULTS 50 CENTS AND KIDS 25 CENTS. THE PROJECTOR WAS RUN BY A YOUNG BOY NAMED ALVIN SVBODA, PRESENT OWNER OF SAME. THE GANADO CENEMA HAD EVOLVED THROUGH MR. SVBODA'S CAPABLE HANDS INTO A FIRST RATE, FIRST RUN SURROUND SOUND THEATER AND THE PRICES HAVE SLIGHTLY GONE UP TO MEET DEMAND. THIS THEATER HAS FAR OUTLIVED IT'S SISTERS IN SURROUNDING COUNTIES. THANK YOU - R.R. "HANK" GUPTON, ANAHUAC, TEXAS, December 17, 2004

  • Jackson County Texas 1920sMap
    Jackson County 1920s Map
    Courtesy Texas General Land Office
    Ganado, Texas Area Towns:
    Edna | Victoria | Port Lavaca | Palacios
    See Jackson County | Texas Gulf Coast

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