Lavaca County quietly turns 182-years-old

Lavaca County officially formed 182 years ago on Saturday, July 13.

According to local historians, it tried to establish itself as the judicial county of “La Baca” in 1842, but later that same year, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Texas ruled that “judicial” counties were unconstitutional.

So, on July 13, 1846, Lavaca County—this time, spelled as the locals pronounced it— became a regularly constituted county with 140 total taxpayers.

It was created from what had been from portions of Fayette, Colorado, Jackson, Victoria, and Gonzales counties.

Petersburg and Hallettsville vied to be the county seat, and after two hotly contested elections Hallettsville won out in 1852.

It took force of arms, however, for Hallettsville to liberate the county records from neighboring Petersburg. Sans service as the county seat, Petersburg eventually vanished, while Hallettsville flourished, becoming a stop on the San Antonio-Aransas Pass Railway, a railway that would later create the county’s other three modern-day towns of Moulton, Shiner and Yoakum.

Moulton, though already in existence before the railroad was laid, shifted some miles east to take advantage of the tracks that otherwise bypassed the existing community.

Shiner was a town created by the railroad, which grew from the existing community of Half Moon after it, too, was bypassed by the rails. It would eventually wither away to nothing, but it is remembered still annually as part of Shiner’s annual July Fourth celebrations, better known as the Half Moon Holidays.

Similarly, Yoakum was also a railroad creation, many of its residents coming from the nearby community of Sweet Home, the start and end point of many a local cattle drive to the Kansas railheads as well as the midway point in the stage company’s lines between Houston and San Antonio. It, too, was also bypassed by the rails.

Today, the county is home to more than 20,500 souls, and we’re proud to serve as its primary news source, with a print newspaper in all four of its towns, and countywide digital news products centered around our website at www.lavacacountytoday.com and the various social media platforms.