Indianola (Texas)

Indianola, Texas is a ghost town on the Matagorda Bay and was formerly the county seat of Calhoun County. It is part of Metropolitan Statistical Areas Victoria. In 1875 the city had about 5,000 inhabitants. On 15 September of that year, it was hard hit by a hurricane affected, killing between 150 and 300 residents and the town was almost completely destroyed. Indianola was rebuilt, but destroyed again by the Indianola Hurricane and a subsequent fire on 19 August 1886.

From its founding in 1846 on Indianola served as an important port and was before the storm 1875, the second largest port in Texas to Galveston. The city was constituted in 1853. 1856 was the port camels that were part of the U.S. Army Camel Corps. It was to replace an experiment, horses and mules as the primary beasts of burden in the southwest of the country.

During the American Civil War, Indianola was twice occupied by troops of the Northern States, beginning in October 1862 and then in November 1863. 1869 left the first mechanically refrigerated cargo ship in the world with beef Indianola bound for New Orleans.

The destruction of Indianola served as a lesson for many residents of Galveston, about 160 kilometers further located on the Texas coast. Their calls for a fixed pier to protect their city, but went unheeded and Galveston nearly shared the fate Indianolas, as in 1900 the Galveston Hurricane (1900) hit the island directly.

A railway line was planned to connect Indianola and its harbor with San Antonio; after the two storms investors were discouraged, however, and returned from the company. Instead, the railway line was built to Galveston. After the Galveston hurricane, the ship traffic over time moved away inland to Houston.

After the hurricane in 1886, the county seat was moved to Port Lavaca. Today, the original Indianola almost nothing is left. Due to wind erosion, most of the village is now underwater. A granite slab was placed on the banks in the next place to the former Courthouse, which is about 90 meters is now in the Matagorda Bay. There is also a statue of René- Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle.

During the Second World War, when this was an anti-aircraft training facility, which was mainly used by military personnel at Camp Hulen, which is outside of Palacios.

Indianola is now a small fishing settlement, but merely is an unincorporated community.