Topic · Page 10
History & Culture
Local Notes
History & Culture notes
Lamar County · Local History
Paris Burned Twice and Rebuilt Both Times
Major fires in 1877 and 1916 destroyed much of Paris, which is why most of the older downtown buildings date from the early 20th century.
Lamar County · Education & Community
Paris Junior College Has Served the Area Since 1924
Paris Junior College is a long-established community college in Lamar County that offers both academic and workforce programs.
Lamar County · Small-Town Edges
Roxton's Creeks and Trestle Still Shape the Town
Roxton sits between Denton Creek and Cane Creek, where an old railroad trestle now belongs to the Northeast Texas Trail.
Lamar County · Courthouse Square
The Courthouse Still Carries Granite From the 1916 Fire
The 1917 Lamar County Courthouse rose after the great Paris fire, with salvaged granite from the older courthouse built into the new one.
Lamar County · State Historic Site
The Sam Bell Maxey House Preserves a Slice of Reconstruction-Era Texas
A state-owned Victorian home in Paris interprets how a prominent local family lived through Reconstruction and into the early 20th century.
Lamb County · Agriculture
Cotton and Grain Farming Still Shape Lamb County's Economy
Lamb County transitioned from open-range ranching to irrigated farming in the early 1900s, and cotton and grain remain the backbone of the local economy today.
Lamb County · County Name
Lamb County's Name Is Older Than Its Towns
Texas created Lamb County in 1876 and named it for George A. Lamb, but local government did not organize until 1908.
Lamb County · County Seat History
Littlefield Was Built on a Ranch Sale and a Railroad Stop
Littlefield grew from a single railroad station on a giant cattle ranch into the county seat and commercial center of Lamb County.
Lamb County · County Seat History
Olton Still Holds Lamb County's First Courthouse Corner
The corner of Main and 8th in Olton held Lamb County's first courthouse and the brick courthouse that replaced it.
Lamb County · Railroad Towns
Sudan Grew Where the 77 Ranch Met the Rails
Sudan began on former school and ranch land, then took shape around a Santa Fe rail line that still crosses town.
Lamb County · Music History
Waylon Jennings Left His Boot Prints in Littlefield
Littlefield remembers its hometown country star with a city park memorial that preserves Waylon Jennings's boot prints in concrete.
Lampasas County · Mineral springs
A Mule-Drawn Streetcar Once Carried Visitors to Hancock Springs
Lampasas once carried rail passengers through downtown by mule-drawn streetcar to a mineral-water resort with baths, pools, and a 200-room hotel.
Lampasas County · County History
How Lampasas County Came to Be
Lampasas County was formed in 1856 from parts of three older counties. Its name comes from the river and mineral springs that drew early settlers.
Lampasas County · Kempner
Kempner's Town Center Followed the Tracks Two Miles East
A settlement and post office moved through several names before the 1882 railroad pulled the community toward a trackside site named Kempner.
Lampasas County · Agricultural History
Lampasas Helped Start a National Farm Movement
In 1875, Lampasas County farmers formed the first Farmers' Alliance. It grew into a national movement for rural economic reform.
Lampasas County · Railroad boom
Lampasas Spent a Few Years at the End of the Railroad
The railroad made Lampasas a short-lived western terminus where wool, cotton, tents, mineral-water tourists, and bankers crowded together.
Lampasas County · Lometa
Lometa's Story Runs from Salt Kettles to Railroad Trade
A wartime salt works labored west of town before a railroad station drew Senterfitt residents into Montvale, soon renamed Lometa.
Lampasas County · Courthouse
The Lampasas Courthouse Carried an 1880s Boom into Stone
The railroad arrived, Lampasas boomed, and W. C. Dodson's mansard-roof courthouse rose on a square reserved when the town was young.
Lavaca County · Railroad Shift
A 32-room hotel helped move Moulton two miles
Old Moulton had the post office and school; a depot called Topeka and a large railroad hotel drew the town about two miles away.
Lavaca County · Settlement History
Lavaca County has deep Czech and German roots
German and Czech immigrants shaped Lavaca County in the late 1800s and their influence is still visible in local towns, churches, and food traditions.
Lavaca County · Historic Landmark
Lavaca County's 1899 courthouse is on the National Register of Historic Places
The Lavaca County Courthouse in Hallettsville was built in 1899 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.
Lavaca County · Crossroads History
Sweet Home had two town centers five miles apart
Stagecoaches and freight wagons used Old Sweet Home before an 1887 railroad drew businesses five miles south to the present community.
Lavaca County · Railroad Town
The railroad made Shiner, but Half Moon did not vanish at once
The railway shifted commerce from Half Moon to Henry B. Shiner's land, though the older community kept gathering after the depot opened.
Lee County · Dime Box History
Dime Box Put Its Name Into the March of Dimes
A dime left in a community mailbox named the town; decades later, Dime Box hosted the opening of a national March of Dimes campaign.
Lee County · Historic Courthouse
Lee County's 1899 Courthouse Was Designed by a Celebrated Architect
The Lee County Courthouse in Giddings was built in 1899 in Romanesque Revival style by James Riely Gordon, who designed several notable Texas courthouses.
Lee County · Lexington History
Lexington Grew From String Prairie, Then Revived by Rail
James Shaw opened a post office at nearby String Prairie in 1849, and the railroad gave Lexington a second start in 1890.
Lee County · Immigrant Heritage
Serbin: A Wendish Settlement That Still Stands in Lee County
In 1854, more than 500 Wends from Lusatia (in present-day Germany) settled near what is now Serbin and built the first Missouri Synod Lutheran church in Texas.
Lee County · Giddings History
Three Railroads Turned Giddings Into a Junction
Giddings began as an 1871 Houston & Texas Central shipping point, then added two more rail connections by 1913.
Leon County · Courthouse
Centerville's 1886 courthouse still carries older brick
Leon County's courthouse in Centerville was built in 1886 on the footprint of the 1856 courthouse and reused much of its exterior brick.
Leon County · County History
Leon County was formed in 1846 and Centerville has been county seat since 1851
Leon County was carved out of Robertson County in 1846, and Centerville replaced Leona as county seat in 1851 because the law required the seat to be near the county's geographic center.
Leon County · Old Road
The Old San Antonio Road brushes Leon County's southern edge
The main route of the Old San Antonio Road passed along what is now Leon County's southern boundary.
Leon County · Railroad Towns
The railroad moved Leon County's map away from the river
After the International-Great Northern Railroad reached Leon County in 1872, river landings faded and railroad towns like Jewett, Buffalo, and Oakwood rose.
Liberty County · Dayton history
A Railroad Flag Stop Helped Turn West Liberty into Dayton
West Liberty became a railroad flag stop in 1860; conductors called it Days Station, Days Town, or Dayton Station before the town adopted Dayton.
Liberty County · Oil and Gas
Liberty County has a long oil and gas production history
Oil exploration began in Liberty County around 1901, with major fields at Daisetta and Hull producing hundreds of millions of barrels over the twentieth century.
Liberty County · County History
Liberty County traces its roots to a Spanish colonial settlement from the 1750s
The area that became Liberty County was settled by Spanish colonists in the 1750s and set up as a municipality in 1831 under Mexican rule.
Liberty County · Courthouse
Liberty County's courthouse is a 1931 Moderne building
The active courthouse on Sam Houston Street gives Liberty a limestone-and-aluminum civic landmark from 1931.
Liberty County · Courthouse square
Liberty's courthouse square started as one of five public squares
The courthouse grounds in Liberty sit on a public square platted during the Mexican Texas years.
Liberty County · Regional archives
Liberty's Sam Houston Center is a whole Southeast Texas memory house
The Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center turns Liberty into a serious research stop for Southeast Texas history.
Liberty County · Prairie schools
Tarkington Prairie Had Fifteen Schools Before Its Contested Consolidation
Records count 15 separate schools from 1857 to 1957 across a rural district that still has no town within it.
Liberty County · Historic house
The 1848 Gillard-Duncan House Moved from Ames to Liberty
Built near Ames from native pine and cypress milled at the family sawmill, the Creole-influenced house moved to the Sam Houston Center in 1980.
Liberty County · Public service
The Daniel Home Follows the Governor's Mansion Plans, Wings Included
Its Greek Revival exterior follows the Texas Governor's Mansion, including side wings in Abner Cook's plans that were never added in Austin.
Limestone County · Juneteenth history
An 1898 Deed Set Aside Booker T. Washington Park for June 19
A deed created a permanent June 19 celebration ground near Mexia, building on annual gatherings that had already begun in the area.
Limestone County · Texas music
Bob Wills Was Born Near Kosse Before the Music Took Shape
Western swing pioneer Bob Wills was born near Kosse in 1905, but his family left Limestone County before his musical training and dance debut.
Limestone County · Texas History
Fort Parker and Cynthia Ann Parker: A Pivotal Texas Story
In 1836, a Comanche and Kiowa raid on Fort Parker in what is now Limestone County changed Texas history and the life of Cynthia Ann Parker.
Limestone County · Courthouse square
Groesbeck's Courthouse Was Designed to Be Seen From Every Side
Four official courthouses came before Limestone County's 1924 Classical Revival landmark, whose elevations were designed to be viewed from every side.
Limestone County · Pottery history
Kimik Sold Marked Pottery Straight to Headsville
German immigrant Lee Kimik ran an unusually deep-walled kiln east of Kosse and marked pottery that he sold directly to nearby Headsville.
Limestone County · Oil boom
Ten Dry Holes Came Before Mexia Found Gas, Then Oil
Mexia was already a railroad town when an eleventh drilling attempt found gas in 1912 and a 1920 oilfield changed the city's scale.
Limestone County · Historic site
Three Histories Share One Bend of the Navasota
At Jack's Creek and the Navasota River, one state historic site holds Indigenous archaeology, Confederate commemoration, and Mexia oil-boom machinery.
Limestone County · Local History
Why Groesbeck Became the County Seat (and Springfield Disappeared)
Limestone County was formed in 1846 with Springfield as its seat, but the railroad era moved power to Groesbeck by 1873.
Lipscomb County · Local History
Lipscomb County Grew from Open-Range Cattle Ranches
Lipscomb County was carved from the Texas Panhandle in 1876, and its first economy was dominated by large cattle operations before wheat farming and later oil changed the land.
Live Oak County · County History
George West Built a Town by Donating Land and a Railroad
The town of George West was literally built by its namesake, a rancher who donated land, cash, and railroad right-of-way to move the county seat there in the early 1900s.
Live Oak County · Oakville History
Oakville Once Got Mail by Stagecoach Four Times a Week
Oakville grew from a place called 'On the Sulphur' into the 1856 county seat, with stagecoach mail linking it to three South Texas cities.
Live Oak County · Courthouse
The 1919 Courthouse Marks Live Oak County's Move to George West
The county seat left Oakville in 1919, and the new brick-and-cast-stone courthouse went up at 301 Houston Street that same year.
Llano County · Downtown Landmark
Badu House Brings a Granite-Era Story to Downtown Llano
Badu House gives downtown Llano another piece of its stone-built past, tied to a 19th-century local businessman and the courthouse-square era.
Llano County · Lake History
Bluffton Moved Once After Fire and Again for Lake Buchanan
Bluffton rebuilt after an 1883 fire, then moved five miles west when Lake Buchanan covered the old townsite.
Llano County · River Settlement
Castell Outlasted Its Sister Settlements
German immigrants founded Castell beside the Llano River in 1847, and the community endured after three nearby settlements faded.
Llano County · Lake Community
Kingsland Had a Railroad Life Before Lake LBJ
Kingsland grew around a railroad at the Llano-Colorado confluence before Wirtz Dam and Lake LBJ gave the town a second chapter.
Llano County · History & Identity
Llano County's Granite Geology and German Settlement Roots
Llano County sits on an ancient granite formation called the Llano Uplift. Its first settlers were mostly German immigrants who came in the 1840s after a peace treaty with the Comanche.
Llano County · Courthouse Square
Llano's Granite Courthouse Anchors the Square
The 1893 Llano County Courthouse uses granite, limestone, and brick to give the county seat its Hill Country shape.
Llano County · Historic Jail
The Red Top Jail Is a Smaller Granite Landmark
Llano's old jail brings the same granite character down to a rougher, more human scale than the courthouse.