"‘School House’ in the middle of the prairie" By Margaret Hill Lawson and McElrath Linn

During the year 1912, Common School District No. 12 was established between the Tres Palacios River and Cash’s Creek.     The two-room schoolhouse was first situated in the Dunbar community by the river and near the church and store.     It was called “The School House.”

Dunbar once neighborhood settlement on Tres Palacios" By Colleen Claybourn

Dunbar was a neighborhood settlement on the west side of Tres Palacios Creek in the Alexander Tims Survey,     Abstract 396, about one mile north of the FM 521 bridge to Collegeport.

Big Boggy National Wildlife Refuge serves critical purpose

Big Boggy National Wildlife Refuge is on East Matagorda Bay just south of Lake Austin and 21 miles south of Bay City in southern Matagorda County.

Bouldin successful in medicine, business, farming

William Walter Bouldin, of Bay City, was not only one of the highly skilled physicians and surgeons of Matagorda County, but he also owned and operated a drug store, and owned considerable farm land which he inherited and which he developed after taking charge of the land.

Powell an early county pioneer

Peter Powell, one of Stephen F. Austin’s Old Three Hundred colonists, was an Englishman who moved to Texas from Baltimore, Maryland, possibly as early as 1819, when he and Aylett C. Buckner are thought to have settled on Buckner’s Creek in present Fayette County; this was before the official...

Royall played active role in revolution

Richard Royster Royall, legislator, soldier, and plantation owner, was born on June 1, 1798, in Halifax County, Virginia, the youngest son of William and Elizabeth (Bedford) Royall.     His mother died when he was four, and he was reared by his stepmother, Polly (Glasscock) Royall.

"Caney grew where several early roads crossed" By Mary Belle Ingram

Situated in the shadows of the Bay City Regional Airport, near the crossroads of FM 457 and FM 2540, is a small cemetery which was a part of the Caney community, and is now only a memory, except for the historical marker placed on the side during the Texas Centennial in 1936.

Waterville also on road from Matagorda to San Felipe

Waterville was on Water Hole Creek (Will's Water Hole) near the site of earlier Preston in southeast Wharton County.     Before 1846 it was in Matagorda County.     The community was served by the main road from Matagorda to San Felipe.

Children’s letters to Santa show wishes in 1916

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following children’s letters to Santa are taken from the Palacios Beacon in its Dec. 22, 1916 edition.

Various legends surround naming of El Maton

El Maton, dating back to 1905, is situated twelve miles west of Bay City on FM 1095. El Maton is a Spanish name meaning “the killer,” which was bestowed on the community by the Missouri-Pacific Railroad Company.     The town haw several legendary versions telling why it is so named.