History

Courtesy photo After nearly two years of community action, the Luther Hotel was sold to preservationist and philanthropist JP Bryan Monday and it will be restored to its former glory, according to Margaret Doughty, with the Palacios Preservation Association.

Courtesy photo After nearly two years of community action, the Luther Hotel was sold to preservationist and philanthropist JP Bryan Monday and it will be restored to its former glory, according to Margaret Doughty, with the Palacios Preservation Association.

Luther Hotel sells to preservationist

News Staff
Thursday, August 22, 2024

Hawkinsville headquarters for J.B. Hawkins

News Staff
Thursday, August 22, 2024
   Hawkinsville was a plantation community seventeen miles from what is now Van Vleck in southeastern Matagorda County.      It was at a site on Caney Creek, where the rich bottomlands supported a thriving plantation economy before theCivil War.

Hawkins, family moved to Lower Caney in 1840s

News Staff
Thursday, August 22, 2024
   James Boyd Hawkins, early Texas planter, was born in Franklin County, North Carolina, on December 27, 1813, the son of John D. Hawkins.    He married Ariella Alston in 1834, and they had eight children.

Historical marker observes Van Vleck school history

News Staff
Thursday, August 22, 2024
an Vleck ISD was dedicated a Registered Texas Historical Subject Marker recognizing the history of the second oldest school district in Matagorda County.  Education was a priority to the earliest residents of Matagorda County.
Courtesy Matagorda County Museum

Courtesy Matagorda County Museum

Hlavinka creates steamboat model

News Staff
Thursday, August 22, 2024
  Did you know that this large model, made by Craig Hlavinka, is fashioned after the wreckage of a 19th century steamboat found in the muddy waters of Caney Creek?    Not much information is available about it, but there are three theories as to why it is there and what happened to it.

Gulf: Company town provided most everything

News Staff
Thursday, August 8, 2024
   Gulf, now called Old Gulf, and formerly called Big Hill, is no more.   Big Hill was a dome-like land surface, about 60 feet high, east of Matagorda, along the Intracoastal Canal where it opens into East Matagorda Bay.  In 1833, William Simpson received this land from the Mexican government.

Markham doctor’s fatal shooting covered statewide

News Staff
Thursday, August 1, 2024
   Dr. Henry E. Yarbrough was born September 17, 1874 and died October 9, 1908 in Markham, Matagorda County, Texas.   He was buried at Greenwood Cemetery, Waco, McLennan County.   He was the son of Thomas Jackson “Jeff” Yarbrough (1840-1918) and Sarah Kite-Kight.

Camp Palomar was Texas’ 1st summer high school

News Staff
Thursday, August 1, 2024
   In the spring of 1919 Dr. J. V. Brown, then President of San Marcos Baptist Academy, saw the need of a summer term of school in order for students to remove some of the deficiencies in their high school courses.
Bay City Sentinel photos/MikeReddell

Bay City Sentinel photos/MikeReddell

Bay City bank once issued own notes

News Staff
Thursday, July 25, 2024
   National Bank Notes were United States currency banknotes issued by National banks chartered by the United States Government.   The notes were usually backed by U.S. bonds the bank deposited with the U.S. Treasury.
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