This watercolor by Roy Whitmire represents Indianola, Texas from 1844, when it was established by Prince Karl Solms-Braunfels, to 1887, after it was destroyed by fire and hurricane. The central Lone Star is from an imprint found on a document dated August 16, 1869, Calhoun County Court, Indianola, Texas. The camel is symbolic of the camels shipped to Indianola by Secretary of War Jefferson Davis to start the U.S. Army Camel Corps. The cow (Spanish “vaca”), after which Port Lavaca was named, represents the hide and tallow business that flourished around Lavaca Bay. And the six flags that have flown over Texas – French, Spanish, Mexican, Confederate, Texas, and United States of America – tied with the oak and olive branches for strength and peace.
125th Commemoration Celebration August 20
If you take a drive to Indianola (10 miles from Port Lavaca on Highway 316), you will have to use all the imagination you can muster to visualize what it was like in its heyday. Right now all you see are a few houses along a picturesque beach, accentuated by a tall monument to French explorer La Salle. Turning off the main road, you’ll find some more residences, an RV park, a small business or two, and further down the beach you’ll come upon Indianola Fishing Marina where you might want to have a bite to eat while enjoying the beautiful view.
Originally settled by German immigrants, the first house in the area was built in 1845 by Johann Schwartz. Indianola (then called Indian Point) became firmly established as a deep water port during the Mexican War. For thirty years its army depot supplied frontier forts in western Texas.
The site was surveyed in 1846 and a post office was opened in September, 1847. Stagecoach service to the interior began in January, 1848. Indianola was the eastern end of the southern Chihuahua Trail, the military road to San Antonio, Austin, and Chihuahua, Mexico, as well as the road the San Diego, the shortest overland route to the Pacific. It became the chief port through which European and American immigrants flowed into western Texas.
The town was incorporated in 1853, the year in which City Hospital began operation. In 1856 and 1857, two shiploads of camels were landed at Indianola. The camels were used in one of the most extraordinary experiments in the history of the U.S. War Department, transporting military supplies in the southwestern United States.
Texas seceded from the Union in 1861, and on October 26, 1862, Indianola was bombarded by Union gunboats, then occupied and looted. The Union forces withdrew the following month, but returned in November 1863, seized the city again, and remained until 1864.
The world’s first shipment of mechanically refrigerated beef moved from Indianola to New Orleans on the Morgan steamship Agnes in July 1869, opening a new era in the transportation of perishable goods. Railroad service from Indianola to the interior began in 1871.
By 1875, Indianola, which by then was the County seat, had a population of 5,000. But on September 15 of that year, a powerful hurricane struck, killing between 150 and 300 and almost destroying the town. Indianola was rebuilt, only to be wiped out on August 19, 1886, by another intense hurricane which was followed by a fire.
The Calhoun County Historical Commission will commemorate the 125th anniversary of this hurricane and the rich heritage of Indianola, on Saturday, August 20, with a day-long event beginning at the LaSalle Monument at 9:00 a.m. and concluding at the Bauer Community Center, 2300 N. State Highway 35, in Port Lavaca. Included in the commemorative event will be presentations of Indianola artifacts and aspects of its history, music of the various cultures of this region, a traditional German lunch and the Texas Camel Corps. You are invited to participate in this historic event, preserving and celebrating Indianola’s history.
References: The Handbook of Texas, Calhoun County Historical Society, Wikipedia
