Linnville, Texas, Calhoun County ghost town. (original) (raw)
The Linnville Centennial marker at the
northern City Limit of Port Lavaca on FM 1090.
Photo Courtesy Barclay Gibson, August 2013
History in a Pecan Shell
Originally known as New Port, it was named after John J. Linn, a merchant who owned warehouses here. It was an important port of entry during the 1830s. A community sprang up around the warehouses owned by Linn and others and by 1839 the population was estimated at 200. At that time the town even had a hotel for the convenience of arriving immigrants. All that is left of the town is a marker erected in 1936 commemorating the now famous "Last Raid" of the Comanche Indians.
The raid which began in the Hill Country, consisted of a seizable group of warriors who swept down to the coast, attacking settlements along the way, including the seizable town of Victoria. Linnville was attacked on August 8th 1840. Many residents fled into the waters of the bay to escape death and after looting the warehouses in a search for guns, the Comanches returned the way they came. The Texas militia had formed while the Indians were at the coast and met them at Plum Creek (near present-day downtown Lockhart). The resulting Battle of Plum Creek stopped further incursions by the Comanches, who then retreated far from white settlements.
See Cox's Point.
Only a single building was left standing in Linnville and residents fled the site to form the town of La Vaca (today the city of Port Lavaca). As La Vaca grew, Linnville declined and was soon abandoned.
The Linnville Centennial marker
Photo Courtesy Barclay Gibson, August 2013
The Linnville Centennial marker
Photo Courtesy Barclay Gibson, August 2013
1907 Calhoun County Postal Map showing Port Lavaca and Lavaca Bay
From 1907 Texas state map #2090
Courtesy Texas General Land Office
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