Name: Victoria, Texas
Address: Victoria, TX

Victoria, TX RoadyGoat

Victoria, Texas. It's a place where Southern hospitality comes standard, and the days unfold at a relaxed pace. The Guadalupe River meanders through town, a constant presence, both a source of life and the setting for old legends, like the tale of La Llorona, forever searching its banks. This land, built on the Beaumont Formation's ancient layers of clay and sand, has a history that stretches back long before the Republic of Texas, though the Battle of Plácido Creek certainly left its mark nearby. But Victoria has also been a breeding ground for talent.

Victoria, TX RoadyGoat

Victoria, Texas, a place where the humid Gulf air hangs heavy, and the slow current of the Guadalupe River reflects the town's unhurried pace. It’s a name that echoes history, a nod to a time when Texas wasn't quite Texas yet. See, the town was christened back in 1824, and it wasn't named for some local hero or a grand dream, but for Guadalupe Victoria, the very first president of Mexico. Think about that: a Texas town, named in honor of the leader of the country it would eventually break away from. It’s a reminder of the complex tapestry of cultures woven into this region. The name Victoria, meaning "victory," carries a certain irony when you consider the Battle of Plácido Creek, fought just a stone's throw away in 1840, a clash that helped shape the Republic of Texas. But perhaps the name also speaks to a different kind of victory – the resilience of the people, the enduring spirit that thrives in this corner of the Coastal Plains. It’s a place where the past isn't just history; it's a living presence, flowing through the streets just like the Guadalupe.

Victoria, TX RoadyGoat

Victoria, Texas, breathes with a history deeper than the Beaumont Formation clay beneath its feet. Named for the first president of Mexico, Guadalupe Victoria, the town’s very name hints at its blended heritage. Though Anglo settlers certainly left their mark, particularly after battles like that fought at Plácido Creek, the echoes of its Mexican roots still resonate. You can hear it in the lilting Spanish spoken in pockets of the city, especially around the older neighborhoods near the Guadalupe River, where legend even whispers of La Llorona's mournful cries. While English is now the dominant language, the cultural influence persists in the architecture, with hints of Spanish Colonial style peeking out from beneath later additions. The food, of course, tells its own story – the Tex-Mex cuisine here is undeniably shaped by generations of Mexican cooks and traditions. It's a place where the past isn't just remembered, it's lived.

Victoria County

1685

In this county the first European setlement in Texas, Fort St. Louis, was built by the French explorer La Salle in 1685. Between 1722 and 1726 a Spanish presidio and the Mission of Espiritu Santo were established. Settled by colonists under Martin De Leon in 1824 who named his capital later the county seat, Victoria. From it the county, created March 17, 1836, took its name. (1936)

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La Salle's Texas Settlement

1685

René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle , established a French settlement on the Texas coast in summer 1685, the result of faulty geography that caused him to believe the Mississippi River emptied into the Gulf of Mexico in the Texas coastal bend. The settlement on the right bank of Garcitas Creek in southern Victoria County has been called Fort St. Louis, but in fact it had no name, only a description. La Salle himself referred to it as "the habitation on the riviére aux Boeufs [Buffalo River] near the baye Saint-Louis." The precise location, about five miles above the Garcitas creek mouth in Lavaca Bay, has long been in dispute, despite a preponderance of evidence favoring the actual site, presented by Eugene Herbert Bolton as early as 1908. The site was confirmed in June 1996 with the excavation of eight French cannons. Buried there more than three hundred years previously by Spanish general Alonso De León , the cannons provided the impetus for excavation of the Keeran Ranch site (1996–2002) by archeologists of the Texas Historical Commission . This project confirmed that the Spanish Nuestra Señora de Loreto de la Bahía Presidio was built on the La Salle settlement site early in 1722. Spanish soldiers led by Domingo Ramón had occupied the site the previous year. Of an astonishing total of 157,726 artifacts recovered from the site, approximately 10 percent are of French provenance, the remainder being of Spanish and Indian origins. In February 1685 La Salle had landed 180 colonists at Matagorda Bay in Spanish-claimed territory. That number included half a dozen young women, two families with a total of seven children, and several youths scarcely out of their teens. The first house to rise on the Garcitas creek bank was a two-story structure of four rooms, built of hewn logs and timbers salvaged from La Salle's wrecked supply ship, Aimable . The roof was of the ship's planking covered with buffalo hides. Although this "main house" served as a lookout post, it was never considered a fort. Recent artists' portrayal notwithstanding, it is nowhere described in the historical record as a blockhouse. Five other houses, quarters for the colonists, had walls of vertical stakes set side by side in the ground and plastered with mud. Roofs were of buffalo hides or thatch. One of these was a chapel, the scene of the first Catholic religious service held in Texas outside the El Paso area. The first European child of record born in Texas is believed to have been christened there. The grueling labor of establishing the colony, combined with exposure, disease, bad treatment, and poor diet, reduced the number of colonists by more than half within six months. From October 1685 to January 1687 La Salle left the colony on three occasions to explore his surroundings. During his first long absence—a journey to the west—his one remaining ship, Belle , was wrecked in Matagorda Bay, leaving the colony marooned. On his final departure, supposedly to seek rescue from his Fort-Saint-Louis-des-Illinois, he left twenty-three men, women, and children, in the colony of six crude structures. The expedition's historian, Henri Joutel , on leaving the settlement with La Salle, declared, "there was only the house . . . , having eight cannon at the four corners, unfortunately without cannonballs," and "when we left, there was nothing else in the nature of a fort." As Joutel reveals, there was never a palisade. "Fort St. Louis" does not appear in any of the accounts by participants in the Texas episode. The spurious journal of La Salle's brother, Abbé Jean Cavelier , as it was recast by the Marquis de Seignelay after Cavelier's return to France, referred once to "the Baye or fort St. Louis." Jean Michel, in his 1713 abridgement of Joutel (as it appears in English translation), seized this verbiage to assert that "the dwelling," like the neighboring bay, was given the name of "St. Louis." For two years those left at the settlement, now in the charge of Lieutenant G

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Victoria County Monument

1528

Center front: 1528 Cabeza de Vaca 1685 Cavelier de la Salle Under the Mexican Government Victoria was a district in 1832, a Municipality in 1835. Under the Republic of Texas Victoria County was created March 17, 1836 with Victoria as the county seat. Its territory has since been materially reduced through the creation of other counties. The principal industry of the people of the region during the 19th century was cattle raising. Here that industry had its origin in Texas, and Victoria County continues to the present day to be the leading cattle county of the state. 1836 1936 Erected jointly by the government of the United States and the State of Texas Left Front: Victoria County early home of the Karankawa Indians. Region roamed by Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca in 1534-1535, the first white man and companions to travel from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Site of the first French settlement in Texas attempted by Rene Robert Cavelier Sieur de La Salle and companions who built Fort St.Louis on Garcitas Creek in 1685. Devastated by the Karankawa Indians burned by members of the Alonso De Leon expedition in 1689. On its remains the Spaniards constructed Presidio de Nuestra Senora de Loreto de la Bahia Del Espiritu Santo. Right Front: As a protection for the Mission de Nuestra Senora del Espiritu Santo de Zuniga both established by Joseph De Azlor, Marquis of Aguayo and Father Fray Agustin Patron, O.F.M. in 1722. Both moved to Mission Valley on the Guadalupe River in 1726. Moved finally to Santa Dorotea now Goliad near the San Antonio River in 1749. The area embraced by this county settled by the colony of Martin De Leon, empresario, in 1824 who named the seat of his colony Guadalupe Victoria in honor of the president of Mexico hero of its struggle for Independence

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Home County of William Pinckney McLean

1891

(Member of the first Railroad Commission of Texas) A Victoria lawyer. Elected from this county, 1861, to state legislature. In U.S. Congress, 1872-1874. Appointed by Gov. James S. Hogg to newly-formed Commission, created to regulate shipping rates and practices. In his term, 1891-1895, transportation of petroleum became important to Texas railways. Oil and gas regulation, a major responsibility, began in 1917 with jurisdiction over pipelines. The legislature made the Commission responsible in 1919 for oil and gas conservation. Proration began in the 1920's. Complete regulation came in 1930's with 1,700,000-barrel-a-day production in East Texas, and use of martial law to enforce Commission rules. Commission policies were acclaimed when in World War II Texas was able to supply the Allies with great stores of oil necessary for victory. The Commission's goal is to prevent waste and protect oil and gas reserves by orderly regulation of exploration, production and transportation. Such men as Commissioner McLean set high ethical standards that still prevail, causing the Commission to merit the confidence of the people and of the petroleum industry. (See other side for names of all Commission members) (1966) Plaque on reverse: MEMBERS OF THE RAILROAD COMMISSION OF TEXAS *John H. Reagan, 1890 - 1903 Wm. P. McLean, 1891 – 1894 L. L. Foster, 1891 – 1895 *L. J. Storey, 1894 – 1909 N. A. Stedman, 1895 – 1897 *Allison Mayfield, 1897 – 1923 O. B. Colquitt, 1903 – 1911 Wm. D. Williams, 1909 – 1916 John L. Wortham, 1911 – 1913 Earle B. Mayfield, 1913 – 1923 Charles H. Huddleston, 1916 – 1918 *Clarence E. Gilmore, 1919 – 1929 N. A. Nabors, 1923 – 1925 W. M. W. Splawn, 1923 – 1924 *C. V. Terrell, 1924 – 1939 *Lon A. Smith, 1925 – 1941 *Pat M. Neff, 1929 – 1932 *Ernest O. Thompson, 1932 – 1965 Jerry Sadler, 1939 – 1942 *Olin Culberson, 1941 – 1961 *Buford Jester, 1942 – 1947 *Wm. J. Murray, Jr., 1947 – 1963 *Ben Ramsey, 1961 – Jim C. Langdon, 1963 – Byron Tunnell, 1965 – *CHAIRMEN

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Austin, Preston Rose

1899

Preston Rose Austin, cotton grower and land promoter, was born near Marshall, Texas, on November 11, 1872, the son of Hiram G. and Ann Elizabeth (Rose) Austin. His maternal grandfather was Preston Robinson Rose , and his maternal great-grandfather was William Pinckney Rose . His family moved in 1875 to Victoria, where he was raised. He attended college in Virginia but returned to Victoria to engage in the cattle business. Ruined by the "Big Freeze" of February 12, 1899, an infamous norther that killed 40,000 cattle overnight, Austin borrowed money from a friend and started afresh. Over the next few years Austin accumulated extensive farm and ranch interests. With business partner Jesse McDowell he owned some 20,000 acres, primarily in Refugio and Calhoun counties. After considerable experimentation with rice and alfalfa, which proved susceptible to the area's salt water, Austin successfully produced cotton on his plantations. He and McDowell platted the townsite of Tivoli in 1907 and that of Austwell in 1912. Austin built hotels, lumberyards, mercantile companies, and cotton gins, in which he maintained strong financial interests. He donated school and church facilities to communities and in 1912 granted the right-of-way as well as station grounds in Austwell and $20,000 in bonus money to induce the Frisco system to extend its lines from Tivoli and Austwell to Victoria. As president of the Black Land and Improvement Company and as a principal stockholder in the Refugio Land and Irrigation Company, he sold improved farms to buyers in the Tivoli and Austwell areas. He was largely responsible for the development of the cotton industry on the lower Guadalupe River. In 1910 he became a founding director of the Levi Bank and Trust Company, later the Victoria Bank and Trust Company; he directed the bank until his death. Austin married Mary Jane Traylor Morris on January 12, 1905. They had two daughters. Austin's death has been characterized as "the most baffling mystery in Victoria's history." On his annual vacation in Hot Springs, Arkansas, on September 27, 1929, he was strangled to death in his hotel room-apparently by three men and a woman seen leaving his floor at the approximate time of his death. A nationwide search and the offer of a $6,000 reward failed to turn up the killer or killers. Austin is buried beneath an imposing granite marker in Evergreen Cemetery, Victoria.

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Benavides, Placido

1828

Plácido Benavides, a native of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico, was renowned for his contribution to the settlement of Victoria, Texas, and to the Texas Revolution . He was a godson of Capt. Henrique Villareal, who had him educated and later sent to Texas in 1828 as secretary to Fernando De León , commissioner of De León's colony and son of Martín De León . For three years Benavides issued land titles and recorded the business transactions of the settlement. In 1831 he married Agustina De León, daughter of the empresario , and settled on a league and a labor of land on Zorillo Creek, which was renamed Placido Creek in his honor. The ranch was near the grants of his brothers, Eugenio, Isidro, and Nicolás. Benavides was elected alcalde of Guadalupe Victoria in 1832 and again in 1834. He was one of the important "Ten Friends" for whom the town's main street was named Calle de los Diez Amigos. After the death of his father-in-law in 1833, the Mexican government authorized him to continue the settlement contract and recruit colonists. As captain of the colony's militia he built a fort, the Round Top House, for the defense of Guadalupe Victoria, and with his brother-in-law Silvestre De León led several attacks against the Comanches and Tonkawas. Benavides continued his prominent role during the Texas Revolution. In October 1835 he successfully led the resistance against surrendering to Mexican forces a cannon and another De León son-in-law, José M. J. Carbajal , who was sought for arrest by Col. Domingo de Ugartechea for his participation in the Coahuila and Texas legislature. With John J. Linn Benavides went to Gonzales to train the volunteers amassing there after the battle of Gonzales . The two proposed to intercept Gen. Martín Perfecto de Cos , who had landed at Copano and, after marching to Goliad, was en route to reinforce Ugartechea at Bexar; but finding most at Gonzales unwilling, Benavides and Linn joined Benjamin Fort Smith 's company, which set out to liberate Goliad. Benavides arrived in Guadalupe Victoria ahead of the company and became one of many Victorians joining George M. Collinsworth 's Matagorda volunteers, who were on the way to liberate Goliad themselves. He became leader of a company of about thirty Mexican rancheros in Collinsworth's force, which captured Goliad on October 9–10, 1835 ( see GOLIAD CAMPAIGN OF 1835 ). On October 14 he and his rancheros left with Smith's men, following Gen. Stephen F. Austin 's orders, and marched to San Antonio, where they fought against Cos in the siege of Bexar . Benavides received notice for his gallantry and efficiency, especially as part of the division under Francis W. Johnson that assaulted the house of Juan Martín Veramendi . In early 1836 Benavides was warned by the alcalde of Matamoros that Antonio López de Santa Anna planned to draw Texans to Matamoros in order to defeat them from the rear while Santa Anna simultaneously attacked Goliad and Bexar. Benavides traveled to San Patricio and informed Robert C. Morris of the plot; Morris enclosed Benavides's warning in a letter dated February 6 to James Walker Fannin , who was then at Refugio planning to carry out the provisional government 's campaign against Matamoros. Benavides's message caused Fannin instead to remove his headquarters to Goliad. Later in February Benavides, appointed by the General Council as a first lieutenant in the regular cavalry, was with Morris and Reuben R. Brown as part of Dr. James Grant 's party of twenty-six men who were procuring horses near San Patricio for Grant's and Francis W. Johnson's own Matamoros expedition ( see MATAMOROS EXPEDITION OF 1835–36 ). Grant's men were surprised by Mexican general José de Urrea 's forces, and in the ensuing battle of Agua Dulce Creek , Grant dispatched Benavides to Goliad to warn Fannin of Urrea's advance. Though Benavides was an ardent foe of Santa Anna, like many colonists he remained loyal to Mexico and therefore could not support the move toward Texas ind

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Victoria, Texas

Music in Victoria

Songs About Victoria

Artists From Victoria

Rivers & Roads in Song near Victoria

History of Victoria

Victoria, TX RoadyGoat

Victoria, TX RoadyGoat

Victoria, TX RoadyGoat

Victoria County

La Salle's Texas Settlement

Victoria County Monument

Home County of William Pinckney McLean

Austin, Preston Rose

Benavides, Placido

Things to Do in Victoria

Everything Near Victoria