La Marque, Texas

Everything La Marque is known for

1 song mention this city 0 artists from here

Music in La Marque

Songs About La Marque

the ballad of lavern and captain flint
guy clark
10%

Artists From La Marque

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Rivers & Roads in Song near La Marque

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near La Marque.

Interstate 45 8 songs FM 3005 2 songs Trinity River 11 songs Interstate 10 36 songs US Route 90 9 songs Brazos River 42 songs

Musical Heritage

Bayou Fest: Music and a Cook-Off on the Coast RoadyGoat

If your timing is right, La Marque throws one of its biggest parties of the year right here. Bayou Fest is the city's annual concert series paired with a barbecue cook-off, a combination that says a lot about what this Gulf Coast community values: live music and serious smoked meat. It grew into one of La Marque's major community events, the kind of gathering where neighbors who spend the week working the nearby plants come together over brisket smoke, cold drinks, and a stage. The cook-off side draws teams who take their smoke rings seriously, and the concert side gives the city a stage of its own rather than borrowing one from Houston or Galveston next door. For a city that has spent its history bracing against hurricanes and industrial booms, Bayou Fest is the lighter side of the same coastal-prairie identity, a reminder that life out here on the flat bayou country isn't all levees and refineries. It's the rare day when a town built around work and weather just lets itself have a good time. Pull over if it's happening; this is La Marque at its most relaxed and welcoming. (Source: City of La Marque.)

History of La Marque

Kelley's Country Cookin' and the Texas-Sized Potato RoadyGoat

For a plate that lives up to every Texas cliche in the best way, Kelley's Country Cookin' is the La Marque stop. The place is known for oversized chicken-fried steak, hearty breakfasts that arrive at all hours, and Texas-sized baked potatoes loaded up until they can double as a meal on their own. It's exactly the sort of generous, no-pretense country cooking that fits a Gulf Coast prairie town full of plant workers, truckers, and football fans who want food that actually fills you up after a long shift. There's no reinvention here, no trend-chasing, just big portions of the comfort food this part of Texas has eaten for generations, served fast and friendly. La Marque's economic-development organization has featured the restaurant in its local-business spotlight series, recognizing it as one of the homegrown spots that give the city its flavor rather than letting the chains out by the highway define it. Come hungry, leave loosening your belt, and don't make any plans that require staying awake afterward. (Source: City of La Marque local-business spotlight.)

The Chemistry of a Catastrophe RoadyGoat

From parts of La Marque, you can see the industrial skyline of Texas City. It’s a reminder of a powerful STEM lesson learned just a few miles from here. On April 16, 1947, the ship SS Grandcamp was loaded with ammonium nitrate, a common fertilizer. What many didn't appreciate was its dual nature: it’s a source of nitrogen for plants, but also a potent explosive compound. A small fire started in the cargo hold, and the crew made a fatal mistake: they sealed the hatches, hoping to starve the fire of oxygen. Instead, the enclosed space became a pressure cooker. The heat and immense pressure triggered a runaway chemical decomposition of the ammonium nitrate, turning 2,300 tons of fertilizer into a massive bomb. The resulting detonation and chain reaction on a nearby ship was a catastrophic failure of chemical handling and safety engineering, leading directly to modern regulations for storing and transporting hazardous materials that are still in use today.

RoadyGoat →

La Marque, TX RoadyGoat

La Marque, Texas, experienced significant growth in the 1950s, providing a workforce for the petrochemical complex in nearby Texas City. The city, once known as Highlands and Buttermilk Station, was renamed in the 1890s after residents discovered another community with the same name. Madam St. Ambrose, a French Catholic Ursuline Sister and postmistress, chose the new name, which means 'the mark' in French. During the Civil War, it was known as Buttermilk Junction due to soldiers purchasing buttermilk there on their trips between Galveston and Houston.

Texas City Memorial Cemetery

1947

On April 16 and 17, 1947, disastrous explosions aboard two ships docked at the Texas City port killed hundreds of people. In the weeks that followed, relief workers led by the American Red Cross and other volunteers labored to identify the victims. Temporary morgues were set up in the Central High school gymnasium and at Camp Wallace, a former Army post. Eventually, 444 people were confirmed dead, and an additional 143 were listed as missing. Sixty-three bodies were never identified. There was no public cemetery in Texas City in 1947. A burial committee appointed by local officials used donated funds to purchase this two-acre tract of land and made plans to bury the unidentified victims on Sunday, June 22. An interfaith and interracial funeral service was conducted before an estimated 5,000 mourners. Funeral homes from 28 towns provided individual caskets and hearses, and florists from throughout Texas donated flowers. The Texas City Memorial Cemetery is still reserved for the 63 people who, although unknown by name, are remembered each year at a memorial service on the 16th of April.

Historical Marker → · 4.3 mi away

Greater Bell Zion Missionary Baptist Church

1865

In the late 1860s and early 1870s, land near the center of Galveston county was bought by a group of African Americans who wished to establish a settlement. Most of the founders were black cowboys who earned their living riding the Chisholm Trail and raising cattle. Some of the founding families were the Britons, Philips, Hobgoods, Caldwells and Bells. A Baptist church was founded in 1885 and soon became the backbone of the African American community. It was organized by Rev. Israel S. Campbell (1815-1898) who was an escaped slave. Before coming to Texas he lived in Canada, attended Oberlin College and became a minister. He is known as the “Father of Black Texas Baptists” because of his missionary work to spread the Baptist faith. The church frequently changed its name depending on the pastor presiding over it. It was first known as Campbellsville Baptist Church, then Jefferson Chapel after the second pastor, then Bell’s chapel after the third. With the influence of the old landmark district association, the congregation renamed it but retained the Bell reference. They concluded with Greater Bell Zion Missionary Baptist Church. Throughout the decades since it was established, the church has been a provider for its community. It was not only a spiritual place, but a place where one could acquire an education. In 1874, the first school building was built in connection with the church. Katie Bell, the first school teacher, taught both children and adults to read and write. Backing Boy Scout troops and running a library are also impacts the church made. For more than a century, the church has been a focal point in the community.

Historical Marker →

Settlement Community

1865

During Reconstruction, former slaves founded a community known as the Settlement on land platted by Judge William J. Jones for purchase by freedmen. Prior to this, a number of cattlemen moved to this area with their slaves. During the Civil War, George Washington Butler was placed in charge of a containment camp and used slave labor from there to drive cattle for the Confederate Army. After the war ended, Butler continued in the cattle industry, hiring freedmen as cowboys. Some of them lived in the community first known as Highland Tank. The first settlers were Kneeland and Sylvia Britton, and Albert and Priscilla (Britton) Phillips. Calvin Bell, Thomas Britton and David Hobgood were area cowboys and pioneers of the community. By 1870, the Rev. Israel S. Campbell helped begin a church; residents built a sanctuary and school the following year in a community called Campbellville for the Reverend. The pioneering families, however, called it Settlement, shortened from "Our Settlement," declaring the importance of freedom and owning land. The African American community prospered throughout the late 1800s. Many male residents worked on Butler Ranch or as farmers. Also, unique for the time, the commuinty had a high literacy rate. By the early 1900s, residents worked in railroad occupations and later in industry. In 1911, and interurban line came through the community, and Highland Station opened; the Settlement was known as Highlands and La Marque until it was incorporated into the city limits of Texas City in the 1950s. The community began to decline in the 1960s, when many young people left to work in an integrated society. However, rodeos and trail rides have been held as reminders of this once flourishing and self-sufficient community founded by African American cowboys. (2007)

Historical Marker →

Everhart, Forrest Eugene, Sr.

1944

Forrest Eugene Everhart, Sr., Medal of Honor recipient, was born on August 28, 1922, in Bainbridge, Ross County, Ohio. He was the son of Thomas Henry Everhart and Alice (Beatty) Everhart. As a youngster, he attended the local school in Bainbridge but left high school after two years. He also first learned to shoot a rifle when he developed an interest in squirrel hunting. In January 1940 Everhart enlisted in the Ohio National Guard as a member of Company H, 166th Infantry Regiment in Chillicothe. The 166th was attached to the Ohio National Guard’s Thirty-seventh Infantry Division. On October 15, 1940, the Thirty-seventh Infantry was called to active duty as the nation prepared for World War II . On active duty, Everhart underwent intense military training at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, and was assigned guard duty with his battalion in Texas City, Texas, along the Gulf of Mexico. In Texas, Everhart met Dorothy Hudson of Texas City. They married on July 10, 1943, and would have six children. In December 1943 Everhart was assigned to Company H, 359th Infantry Regiment of the Ninetieth Infantry Division (known as the “Tough ‘Ombres,” “Texas’ Own,” and the “Alamo” division). On March 23, 1944, the Ninetieth embarked from New York for the European theater of the war. It arrived in England on April 5 and began to train for D-Day and Operation Overlord. The Ninetieth Division experienced some major problems during the Normandy campaign. Elements of the division landed in Normandy on Utah beach on D-Day June 6. On the morning of June 7, the troopship, Susan B. Anthony , transporting Everhart’s unit, the 359th IR, hit a mine in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy and sank. Other ships pulled alongside the doomed vessel and rescued the troops. After the 359th IR landed in Normandy, it fought in support of the Fourth Infantry Division for three days. Although well-trained and equipped for combat, the Ninetieth Division was ill-prepared for fighting in hedgerow terrain and suffered heavy casualties. On June 13, Everhart suffered a leg wound from shrapnel that led to a month of hospitalization in England. In August, Everhart took another blow when a piece of shrapnel hit him in the face under his right eye. The wound caused Everhart discomfort for the rest of his life. Near Kerling, in northeastern France, Technical Sergeant Everhart faced his greatest challenge during World War II. On November 12, 1944, German tanks and infantry forces in a predawn strike threatened to overrun the unit’s left flank and machine gunner. As the platoon commander, Everhart took immediate action, racing 400 yards and through hostile fire, until he reached the machine gun. Everhart directed fire toward the Germans and then engaged the enemy in a fifteen-minute grenade attack that killed thirty and forced the rest to withdraw. Everhart than ran to his threatened right flank and fought the enemy with grenades. His actions forced them to retreat and killed another twenty Germans. Praised for his “gallantry and intrepidity” that halted a German attack, Everhart was recommended for the Medal of Honor. Suffering from trench foot, Everhart was removed from combat a few days after the Kerling battle. Evacuated first to England, he subsequently spent several months at Stark General Hospital in Charleston, South Carolina, and the post hospital at Camp Carson, Colorado. Everhart received his military discharge on July 20, 1945, and then traveled to Texas City to join his wife and his son Forrest E. Everhart, Jr. On August 23, 1945, President Harry Truman presented the Medal of Honor to Technical Sergeant Forrest Everhart and twenty-seven others in a ceremony in the East Room of the White House. Congress credited his award to Texas from where he had deployed as part of the Ninetieth Division. A few days later, Everhart returned to Bainbridge, Ohio, where a parade was given in his honor. Accompanied with his parents, his wife, and his child, the young war hero took m

Tsha Handbook → · 7.5 mi away

Moore, Helen Edmunds

1915

Helen Edmunds Moore, state legislator, was born on January 3, 1881, in Black River Falls, Wisconsin, the daughter of J. H. Edmunds, who became a prominent mechanical engineer of Kansas City, Missouri. She became a nurse at Kansas City Hospital, where she met Hugh Benton Moore , a railroad man, who was a patient. They were married on September 5, 1905, in Kansas City, one month before their move to Texas City. Her husband, the pioneer developer of Texas City, served as the general manager of Texas City Terminal Railroad and Mainland Company. As a nurse she provided the only medical service available until the first doctor arrived in 1907. Together they sought civic improvements for the new port: the Moore Memorial Public Library, city incorporation, health laws, and a park. Helen Moore began her successful public career fighting for woman suffrage , touring the state to organize women to work for the constitutional amendment. When the amendment was rejected in 1915 by the Texas legislature, Minnie Fisher Cunningham of Galveston, state president of Texas Equal Suffrage Association , wrote to Moore asking her to continue the campaign for woman suffrage. She wrote, "I am not going to pretend it is an easy work that I am calling you to, but I believe you are the woman for it. I know your spirit and your fire, and they are irresistible." Mrs. Moore accepted the challenge and became chairwoman of the southeast district for TESA. Her interest in politics led her to accept the presidency of the League of Women Voters of Texas in 1923 and become a delegate to the Democratic national conventions in 1924 and 1928. In addition to these political activities, Mrs. Moore organized the Texas City Red Cross Branch in 1916 and served as its first president. As an active member of St. Mary's Catholic Church, she served in the Altar Society. Though childless, the Moores raised three of her nieces at their home near the waterfront and Texas City Dike. The home is a Texas state historic landmark. Fishing and water sports were her favorite hobbies. As a member of the Forty-first, Forty-second, and Forty-fourth legislatures, she revealed the determined spirit behind her gentle image. When she was first elected there was only one other woman in the House. In the Forty-fourth Legislature she was the only woman. She succeeded in getting state authorization for construction of the Texas City Dike as a permanent part of the Galveston Bay channel system. However, her chief interest was social legislation. She was a member of the Public Health Committee and the Education Committee and chairman of the Eleemosynary Committee. Bills she secured included measures for removal of the insane from jails to insane asylums; establishment of state hospitals for cancer, pellagra, and tuberculous patients; and, following her investigation (the first) of state facilities, increased appropriations and improved maintenance for all state hospitals, orphanages, and penal institutions. In 1932 she also served on the appropriations committee, where she was instrumental in the establishment of the first psychopathic hospital at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. Under her sponsorship the state established the state board of education, required a six-year scholastic age for children, required teachers in public schools to be citizens of the United States, included the teaching of American and Texas government in public schools, and established schools in the penitentiary with compulsory attendance. (She had found that 23 percent of the inmates had never attended school.) She also urged the passage of the federal child labor amendment. She was very proud of the protective legislation for women that cut their working hours from fifty-four to forty-eight hours a week. She won reelection in 1934 on a pledge to vote for the repeal of the prohibition amendment and the establishment of a liquor tax rather than income and sales taxes. Upon her leaving the Texas House in

Tsha Handbook → · 7.5 mi away

Things to Do in La Marque

historical 13.9 mi away
NASA Johnson Space Center

Houston we have a problem. Where Mission Control guided Apollo 11 to the moon.
historical 14.2 mi away
Space Center Houston

Houston we have a problem. Every word spoken between Apollo astronauts and Earth came through Mission Control at NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston. The…
food 21.7 mi away
Killen's Barbecue

Chef Ronnie Killen's Pearland powerhouse. A classically trained chef who chose brisket over fine dining. The beef rib is absurd.
historical 13.7 mi away
Galveston Seawall

The 1900 Galveston Hurricane killed at least eight thousand people and remains the deadliest natural disaster in American history. In response Galveston built…
spooky 13.8 mi away
Hotel Galvez Ghost Bride

The Queen of the Gulf opened in 1911 after the Great Storm. Room 501 is haunted by a jilted bride who hanged herself after falsely believing her fiance died at…

Sports in La Marque

⭐ HOMETOWN LEGENDS Class 4A · Football

La Marque — La Marque — a college & pro athletic pipeline

7 alumni who reached major-college or pro sports

La Marque High School, a Class 4A institution, has a proud history of athletic alumni who have gone on to compete at major-college and professional levels. The school's commitment to sports has helped produce a notable group of athletes. Among them are former National Football League players Norm Bulaich, James Francis, and Ron Francis, each representing La Marque's strong football tradition.

The Cougars' influence extends beyond the gridiron. Jeff Banister, a Major League Baseball player, coach, and manager, also hails from La Marque. The school has also seen L. J. Castile and Jared Perry compete as Arena Football League players, while Claude Terrell played as a former National Football League player. These individuals highlight the diverse athletic paths taken by La Marque graduates.

Pro/D1 alumni
7
Class
4A
Key Players
  • Jeff Banister — , Major League Baseball player, coach, and manager
  • Norm Bulaich — , Former National Football League player
  • L. J. Castile — , Arena Football League player
  • James Francis — , Former National Football League player
  • Ron Francis — , Former National Football League player
  • Jared Perry — , Arena Football League player
The moment

Jeff Banister went on to become a Major League Baseball player, coach, and manager.

Sources: Wikipedia · SI High School (ScoreBook Live)

Everything Near La Marque

938 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the nearest 200 are listed here — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

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