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LA
WARD, TEXASJackson
County, Texas Gulf Coast
Highway 172 and FM 616
48 miles SW of Wharton
12 miles S of Ganado
17 miles SE of Edna
5
miles E of Lolita
46 miles E of Victoria
23 miles NE of Port Lavaca
Population 200 (2000) |
History
in a Pecan Shell
Named
after local rancher Lafayette Ward (who was also an influence in the neighboring
town of Francitas), the town emerged on the coastal prairie in 1904 with the arrival
of the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railroad.
La Ward housed a section
crew for the railroad and was prosperous enough to have two stores. It became
a shipping center for area ranchers who also did their banking in town. The town
never had a large population and by 1940 there were only 200 people living there.
The town reached its high-water mark in 1962 with 300 people and then slid into
a decline losing nearly 2/3rds of the population by 1971. It has since increased
to the present estimate of 200. |
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Sandhill
Cranes in La Ward
Photo Courtesy Ken Rudine, February 2006 |
Sandhill
Cranes in La WardDear
TE: Part of our frequent trips to and from Houston-Rockport
is to travel Highway 172 between Ganado and Highway
35. On this 22 miles you pass through La Ward which postal-wise is served by Lolita,
Jackson County, 77971.
On the farming land just south of La Ward there
are a dozen or more Sandhill Cranes that have migrated here from the Platte River,
Nebraska where they have been coming for 10,000 years, according to Pamela Jensen.
Jenson spoke at the Hummer/Bird Celebration in Rockport, (Sept.,2000) about the
legends of the crane. We bought her book and were previously unaware these birds
came to this area. During the last two years we began to notice in the winter,
these large birds in the plowed-under corn fields on Highway 172 and on Highway
35 about 10 miles south of Tivoli. It is rather
exciting to see these large birds whose call is similar to that of a turkey. These
cranes have a red marking on top of their heads, unlike the Whoopers red mark
on the side of their heads. They are at least twice as tall as a turkey, but not
as tall as the 5-foot Whooping Cranes nearby in the Aransas Wildlife Refuge. This
picture I think is of two adults and their young. - Ken Rudine, Houston, Texas,
February 3, 2006
Anyone wishing to share history, stories or photos of
La Ward, Texas, please contact
us.
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Photos by Ken Rudine
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