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GANADO, TEXAS

Jackson County, Texas Gulf Coast
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 1,701 (1990)

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Longhorn in Ganada, Texas
"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, 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 fire truck


TE Photo, 6-03
Ganado, Texas rice elevators

Rice Elevators in Ganado
More cubic feet than the rest of town’s buildings combined

TE Photo, 6-03
Ganado, Texas masonic building
The Ganado Masonic Lodge

TE Photo, 6-03
Ganado Cinema, Ganado, Texas
Ganado Cinema in downtown Ganado

TE Photo, 6-03

Ganado Texas Forum

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

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