Name: Bay City, Texas
Address: Bay City, TX

Bay City, TX RoadyGoat

Bay City moves at its own speed, a gentle rhythm of rice fields and Friday night lights under the wide Texas sky. You can almost taste the history here, a blend of coastal prairie wind and the echoes of lives lived close to the land. Irrigated rice drew folks in the late 19th century, and the town grew around it, a hub in this part of the Gulf Coast. Some names from here went on to do great things.

Bay City, TX RoadyGoat

Bay City is a place that just *is*. It wasn’t destined to be a sprawling metropolis, but it's more than just another small town. The secret, if you can call it that, is the rice. The coastal prairie around here, that seemingly endless stretch of tall grass and wildflowers, is perfect for it, especially once irrigation took hold. That drew folks in, plain and simple. It became a regional center because rice made it so. Now, agriculture still hums along, a steady heartbeat for the whole area. You might come for the fishing on Tres Palacios Bay, or maybe you’re passing through, drawn by the legend of the ghost light flickering near the old train tracks. But if you ask a local why people *stay*, they’ll probably tell you it's the rhythm of life. It's Friday night lights at Bay City High School, where the Blackcats' football legacy is practically a religion. And yes, it’s knowing that we’re all in this together, facing down the threat of flooding, just like those who came before us, drawn by the promise of the land. It's a slow-paced, friendly place — a place where time seems to bend a little, and that's something you can't find just anywhere.

Shanghai Pierce: The Coastal Cattle King RoadyGoat

1854

Abel Head "Shanghai" Pierce (1834-1900) was one of Texas's most colorful cattle kings. Born in Rhode Island, he stowed away on a schooner to Texas in 1854, landed near Indianola, and started out splitting rails on the Grimes ranch before branding his own cattle. After serving in the Confederate cavalry he and his brother Jonathan organized Rancho Grande on the Tres Palacios River in Wharton County in 1871; the town of Pierce is named for them. He eventually amassed about 250,000 acres as president of the Pierce-Sullivan Pasture Company, driving and shipping thousands of cattle to northern markets. Convinced that ticks caused Texas fever, he toured Europe seeking a tick-resistant breed and concluded that Brahman cattle were the answer. In the early 1890s he commissioned sculptor Frank Teich to carve a six-and-a-half-foot marble likeness of himself, raised atop a granite monument years before his death; it still marks his grave at Hawley Cemetery near Blessing. Pierce died of a cerebral hemorrhage on December 26, 1900. After his death his estate imported Brahman cattle from India that became the base stock for Texas's great Brahman herds.

14.0 mi away

Matagorda County

1685

Early home of the Karankawa Indians. Landing place of LaSalle in 1685. Settled 1822-1836 by colonists of Stephen F. Austin. The municipality of Matagorda organized under the Mexican Government on March 6, 1834. Became on March 17, 1836, Matagorda County, which was organized in July 1837. Matagorda, was the county seat, 1837-1894, Bay City since 1894. In Memory Of James Cummins, Hosea H. League, Elias R. Weightman, Seth Ingram, Horatio Chriesman, William Selkirk, early settlers. Mary S. Wrightman Helms, the first woman teacher in Texas. Ira Ingram, Silas Densmore, members of the Convention of 1832. R.R. Royals, Ira L. Lewis, Charles Wilson, Delegates to the Consultation. Bailey Hardeman, Samuel Rhodes Fisher, signers of the Declaration of Independence. George M. Collingsworth and the men who served under him during thr struggle for Texas Independence. A.C. Horton, Lieutenant Govenor of Texas. The citizens of early Matagorda County who contributed to the economic, cultural, and spiritual development. Matagorda County has contributed to the development of Texas culture. The pioneer woman teacher Mary S. Wrightman Helms,1829; an early newspaper The Matagorda Bulletin, 1837; First Episcopal Church, 1839; first request for promotion of free school, that of Ira Ingram, 1837. Erected by the State of Texas 1936

Historical Marker →

Matagorda, C.S.A.

1862

Near the mouth of the Colorado River, 20 miles to the south, is the town of Matagorda, the second most important Port of entry in early Texas. In the Civil War, center for rich farmlands and one of 8 Texas ports that blockade runners used for taking out tons of cotton while delivering to the confederacy guns, munitions, clothing and other vital goods. By reason of the declared blackade, the federals claims to hold Matagorda, yet their own ships had to refuel (even to supplies of drinking water) in New Orleans. When a blockader's crew went ashore near Matagorda, on November 20, 1862, confederates captured every man. By hit-and-run tactics, federals destroyed salt works and other propert, but found Matagorda Peninsula impossible to occupy. On December 30, 1863, C.S.A. cottonclads (ships bulwarked with cotton bales in which guns were set) moved men out of Matagorda to expel a federal unit from a beach below confederate works at Caney Creek. When troops were trying to land, a sudden norther lashed the bay and swamped their skiffs. Before the ships could pick them up, 22 men died by drowning or freezing. In the tragedy, the troop commander, Capt. E.S. Rugeley lost his own 17-year-old brother.

Historical Marker →

Ingram, Ira, First Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives

1836

Born in Vermont. Came to Texas in 1824. Worked to establish the Republic. Represented Matagorda in the First Congress of the Republic where he served as speaker, Oct. 1836 to April 1837. At his death in Sept. 1837 left $70,000 to schools in Matagorda. Since Ingram's term, 62 men have served Texas as speaker. Five have gone on to become governor. One, Sam Rayburn, became Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and served 21 years in that office. The speaker, elected from the 150 members of the house, is one of the most powerful men in state government -- being third in line of succession to the governorship. Through his power of appointment of the 41 standing committees, and a presiding officer, he directs the course of legislation. He is chairman of the Legislative Audit Committee; vice-chairman of the Legislative Budget Board; and vice-chairman of the Texas Legislative Council. He signs all legislative acts and resolutions, appoints conference and interim committees, and performs many administrative duties spanning his two year term. (1965)

Historical Marker →

Bess, Forrest Clemenger

1911

Forrest Bess, artist, the son of Arnold and Minta (Lee) Bess, was born in Bay City, Texas, on October 5, 1911. His father was an itinerant oil worker, and Bess spent his childhood in various oil towns throughout Texas and Oklahoma. Probably inspired by the fantasy painting of his maternal grandmother, he became interested in painting at an early age. In 1924 he took his first art lessons from a neighbor in Corsicana. In 1929 he entered the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (now Texas A&M University), where he began to study architecture. He became interested in English literature, Hinduism, Greek mythology, and the works of Darwin and Freud. In 1931 he transferred to the University of Texas. After dropping out of school in 1933, he worked for a short time as a roughneck in various oilfields to earn money to go to Mexico. There he began to paint in a style that he identified as post-impressionist, modeled upon that of Vincent Van Gogh and Maurice Vlaminck. He returned to the United States in 1934 and set up a studio in Bay City. He had his first exhibition in a Bay City hotel lobby in 1936. During World War II he served with the United States Army Corps of Engineers in the camouflage division and received a commendation for his services. In 1946 he suffered a mental breakdown; after spending some time in the Veterans Administration Hospital in San Antonio (now the Audie L. Murphy Memorial Veterans Hospital ) he obtained a job giving art lessons there. A few years later, when his father's health was failing, he returned to Bay City to manage the family bait camp in Chinquapin. He lived there the rest of his life selling bait, building frames, designing visual aids for the public school, giving private art lessons, and occasionally selling his paintings. In 1948 he made a trip to New York City, where he met Betty Parsons, a prominent New York City gallery owner who represented leading Abstract Expressionist and Color Field painters Barnett Newman, Clyfford Still, Jackson Pollock, and Mark Rothko. Parsons mounted the first major exhibition of Bess's work in 1949; it was followed by shows in 1954, 1957, 1959, 1962, and 1967. Critic Meyer Schapiro championed Bess's work and wrote an essay for the 1962 retrospective exhibition of his paintings at the Betty Parsons Gallery. Bess's work was included in the Corcoran Gallery Biennial (1939), and he was featured in solo exhibitions at the Witte Museum in San Antonio (1938, 1967), the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (1951), the Oklahoma Art Center, Oklahoma City (1951), the André Emmerich Gallery, Houston (1958), the Contemporary Arts Museum , Houston(1962), and the New Arts Gallery, Houston (1963), among others. His work was featured at the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco (1958), and in 1962 some of his works were included in "Wit and Whimsy in 20th Century Art," an exhibition organized by the American Federation of Arts in New York. Bess was a visionary abstract artist whose small oil paintings featured personal symbolic images, such as crescents, eyes, crosses, lines, and simple geometric forms, which he saw in his dreams. He kept a notebook by his bed in which he drew the visions. He claimed to have had his first vision, a Dutch village guarded by a lion and a tiger, in 1915, and he later recorded this in one of his paintings. He was inspired by Carl Jung's theories to study mythology, alchemy, archeology, and religion; he became convinced that his ideograms, as he called them, could end human suffering, including death, by aiding the physical transformation of the male and female bodies into an androgynous being. Bess wrote to several psychologists and anthropologists, including Jung, and kept a notebook of sketches, clippings, and quotations to develop his thesis. In 1960 he had himself surgically altered in an effort to become androgynous. During the 1960s his work attracted the interest of Texas artists Jim Love and Roy Fridge and such collectors as Dominique

Tsha Handbook →

LeTulle, Victor Lawrence

1901

Victor Lawrence LeTulle, merchant, banker, farmer, rancher, and philanthropist, was born in Columbus, Texas, on July 5, 1864, the son of Victor D. and Helen Maria (Webb) LeTulle. His father, who moved to Texas from Virginia by way of California, served as a captain in the Confederate Army. Victor L. LeTulle was the great-grandson of Samuel B. Webb of Revolutionary War fame. He attended public schools in Colorado County, after which he became a farmer. On January 29, 1890, he married Sarah West Bell, daughter of Sarah Catherine Green and Nathan Edward Bell, a veteran of Hood's Texas Brigade who came to Colorado County from Virginia. Mrs. LeTulle died on May 24, 1933, and two years later LeTulle married her sister, Estelle Bell Fate. This marriage was dissolved the following year. No children were born to either marriage. In 1890 the LeTulle family moved to Matagorda County and settled near Caney, where LeTulle began acquiring vast landholdings for farming and ranching purposes. He registered the Circle and 7VL as his brands. He moved to Bay City in 1900, when the town was only six years old, and began farming rice in 1901. He purchased a canal system from Ross S. Sterling and installed some 334 miles of waterways capable of irrigating more than 100,000 acres a year-at that time considered to be the largest privately owned irrigation system in the world-and gave impetus to the rice-farming industry in Matagorda County, once the third largest producer in Texas ( see RICE CULTURE ). LeTulle sold the system in 1931. He was founder and president of a mercantile company and served as president of the First National Bank for twenty-one years. He was a Mason and member of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association . He gave a farm of about 9,000 acres, a hospital, and a dormitory (a memorial to his first wife) to Buckner Orphans Home ( see BUCKNER BAPTIST CHILDREN'S HOME ) in Dallas and made monetary gifts to Memorial Hospital in Houston. In Bay City he donated land for a public park and the local hospital, gave a gas utility system to the city, and built the First Baptist Church auditorium as a memorial to Sallie LeTulle. He died on May 1, 1944, in Houston and was buried in Cedarvale Cemetery, Bay City.

Tsha Handbook →

Bay City, Texas

Music in Bay City

Songs About Bay City

Artists From Bay City

Rivers & Roads in Song near Bay City

History of Bay City

Bay City, TX RoadyGoat

Bay City, TX RoadyGoat

Shanghai Pierce: The Coastal Cattle King RoadyGoat

Matagorda County

Matagorda, C.S.A.

Ingram, Ira, First Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives

Bess, Forrest Clemenger

LeTulle, Victor Lawrence

Everything Near Bay City