la Vernia, Texas

Everything la Vernia is known for

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Music in la Vernia

Songs About la Vernia

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Artists From la Vernia

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kyle gates
hip-hop Pop: 8

Rivers & Roads in Song near la Vernia

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near la Vernia.

Interstate 10 23 songs US Route 90 6 songs Guadalupe River 9 songs Interstate 35 27 songs Chisholm Trail 4 songs

History of la Vernia

Joe Ball "the Alligator Man" — Elmendorf, Texas RoadyGoat

1930

Elmendorf, Texas, just south of San Antonio. In the nineteen thirties, a man named Joe Ball ran a roadhouse called the Sociable Inn off the highway and kept five live alligators in a concrete pond out back — paid admission, drew tourists from the highway. He also employed a series of young women as waitresses, some of whom disappeared without drawing much attention. When Bexar County deputies arrived at the Sociable Inn in September of nineteen thirty-eight to ask about a missing woman, Joe Ball walked to the cash register, opened it, and shot himself in the head. Investigators drained the alligator pond. They found human remains. They found a metal drum buried in the yard with a body inside. The official victim count stopped at two; investigators believed there were more. The five alligators were sold to the San Antonio Zoo.

14.1 mi away

Converse, TX RoadyGoat

Converse is more than just a comfortable suburb of San Antonio; it’s a place where the echoes of the past mingle with the promise of the future.

16.7 mi away

Converse, TX RoadyGoat

Converse is a place defined by connections. The Southern Pacific Railroad laid its tracks here back in the late 1800s, and suddenly a small community named for one of the railroad's executives, James Converse, began to take shape. Even today, that history of connection continues. Many residents commute into San Antonio, just down the road, for work, weaving the economic fortunes of Converse tightly together with the larger city. And the area sits at a slightly higher elevation, offering a unique vantage point. Of course, not all connections are smooth. Local legend whispers of a stagecoach robbery near the town's beginnings, a stark reminder of the wilder days. More recently, the devastating floods of 1998 tested the community's resilience, leading to important infrastructure improvements. But Converse has also enjoyed some high points — who could forget the San Antonio Spurs' championship run in 2014, celebrated by everyone in the region? The roar of the crowd at Judson High School football games is a familiar sound, too, a testament to the enduring spirit of this community. Converse might be a suburb, but it’s a suburb with a story, a place where the past and present are always in conversation.

16.7 mi away

Whitehall

1847

Built by Joseph Polley (1795-1869), one of "Old 300" settlers of Stephen F. Austin, and the first Austin colony sheriff. From Fort Bend and Austin counties, he at last settled here, where he had cattle herds called largest in Texas. In 1847-51 he built this stone mansion, with framing of Bandera Cypress, and cabinet work shipped by sea from New York. This was area social center. From here house guest Robert E. Lee wrote his last Texas letter. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1962

Historical Marker → · 4.4 mi away

Chihuahua Road, Old

1835

Mexican cart road from central Mexico to Texas Coast at Indianola. Route of marauding Indians as well as Alsatian, German, Polish, Irish immigrants seeking freedom in New World. After 1835 was important in gold and silver exporting; in 1850s for army travel. (1967)

Historical Marker →

Concrete, TX (Guadalupe County)

1858

The Concrete community was located in southwestern Guadalupe County alongside the present Farm Road 775 approximately two miles north of the town of La Vernia, between the communities of La Vernia and New Berlin. The community was originally called Bethesda but was later called Concrete because of the old rock church built there about 1858. The old rock church that once stood on the site was also used as a school and meeting hall for the Bethesda Masonic lodge. The New Berlin road ran past the church and on Sundays the road was lined with ox carts carrying both Whites and Blacks to church. The church was the site of many old fashioned camp meetings with both Whites and Blacks attending. The community was founded by James Henry Newton who came to the area about 1851 and owned a plantation on the north bank of the Cibolo Creek. The lumber as well as other supplies to construct the buildings were hauled by the slaves with ox teams from Port Lavaca. Lumber was so scarce that the homes of the first settlers were built of logs, and the floors were made of flat stones. The land for the Concrete Cemetery, which is all that presently remains on the site, was donated as a public cemetery by James Newton in 1856; an early burial was of his brother Joel Wooten Newton on January 16, 1856. Concrete Cemetery is also the burial site of Claiborne Rector , who fought at the battle of San Jacinto in the Texas Revolution . Concrete Cemetery received a Texas Historical Marker in 1997. The graveyard encompassed almost seven acres and still served descendants of pioneers of the area.

Tsha Handbook →

Rector, Claiborne

1836

Star and Wreath Served in the Battle of San Jacinto; Captain William H. Patton's Company. Erected by the State of Texas 1962

Historical Marker →

La Vernia, TX

1850

La Vernia is on the south bank of Cibolo Creek at the junction of U.S. Highway 87 and Farm Road 775, fifteen miles north of Floresville in northern Wilson County. The town was first settled around 1850. W. R. Wiseman of Mississippi, who organized a Presbyterian church at the site around 1851, is said to have named the place Live Oak Grove for a grove nearby. In 1853 a post office was established under the name Post Oak, which was changed to La Vernia in 1859. The origin of the name is uncertain. The Brahan Masonic lodge was established at La Vernia in 1859. German and Polish immigration brought the population to 110 by 1885, when the community had three churches, a steam gristmill, and a cotton gin. H. Suhre, owner of the general store, was the first postmaster. In 1890 La Vernia had a population of 200. Construction of the San Antonio and Gulf Railroad across the area in 1893 brought the population to 343 by 1900. A two-teacher school was in operation by 1896, when the enrollment was sixty-six. In 1915 the town had two gins, a bank, four churches, a pottery plant, a brick works, and a population of 500. In 1947 it had seventeen businesses. In 1965 it had 700 residents and twenty-five businesses. The community incorporated around 1980 and in 1990 had a population of 639 and thirty-six businesses. In 2000 La Vernia had 136 businesses and a population of 931.

Tsha Handbook →

Things to Do in la Vernia

historical 22.8 mi away
The Alamo

In the spring of 1836 about two hundred Texas defenders held this old Spanish mission for thirteen days against a Mexican army of two thousand led by Santa…
historical 14.3 mi away
The Alamo Messenger Who Founded a Town

Dr. John Sutherland was inside the Alamo on February 23 1836 when Santa Anna arrived. He and John Smith were the first to spot the Mexican army but Sutherlands…
historical 21.8 mi away
Mission San José

The queen of the missions -- San Jose y San Miguel de Aguayo -- was founded in 1720 just south of San Antonio and quickly became the largest wealthiest and…
nature 24.8 mi away
Comal Springs

Comal Springs in New Braunfels is the largest spring system in Texas -- more than two hundred and fifty individual vents pouring out three hundred million…
quirky 6.7 mi away
From Boomtown to Ghost Town

At its peak Sutherland Springs was a county seat a stagecoach hub and an internationally known health resort. Then the county seat moved the railroad bypassed…
historical 6.7 mi away
The Flood That Killed a Resort

In 1913 a devastating flood on the Cibolo River swept through Sutherland Springs and destroyed the resort that had made it famous. The bathhouse slammed into…
quirky 6.7 mi away
27 Flavors of Mineral Water

Sutherland Springs had over 100 hot and cold mineral springs producing 27 distinct flavors of water. White sulphur black sulphur and hume sour were just a few.…
historical 6.8 mi away
The Grand Hotel Sutherland

On the Fourth of July 1909 the 52-room Hotel Sutherland opened its doors at New Sutherland Springs. It featured the largest concrete swimming pool in the South…

Everything Near la Vernia

209 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

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