Jourdan Campbell
Jourdanton, Atascosa County, Texas
Marker Inscription
JOURDAN CAMPBELL JOURDAN CAMPBELL (1867-1938) AND HIS FAMILY MOVED TO ATASCOSA COUNTY BY 1870; HIS FATHER JOHN CAMPBELL FOUNDED CAMPBELLTON. JOURDAN MARRIED ALICE LOUISE MARR IN 1897 AND THE COUPLE HAD EIGHT CHILDREN. JOURDAN BECAME COUNTY COMMISSIONER IN THE 1890s, AND IN 1907 WITH COL. T. H. ZANDERSON BOUGHT THE 33,760 ACRE TOBEY RANCH, PART OF WHICH WOULD BECOME JOURDANTON. ONCE THE TOWN WAS FORMED, CAMPBELL WAS VICE PRESIDENT OF THE BANK AND LOBBIED FOR A RAILROAD. JOURDANTON BECAME ATASCOSA COUNTY SEAT IN 1910. CAMPBELL ALSO SUPPORTED A 65-MILE HARDTOP HIGHWAY PROJECT LINKING JOURDANTON TO THE PRINCIPAL COMMUNITIES OF ATASCOSA COUNTY. JOURDAN CAMPBELL WAS THE DRIVING FORCE BEHIND JOURDANTON’S CREATION, PROSPERITY AND GROWTH. 175 YEARS OF TEXAS INDEPENDENCE * 1836-2011
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Jourdan Campbell, son of Campbellton founder John Campbell, grew up in Atascosa County and became a county commissioner in the 1890s. In 1907 he and Col. T. H. Zanderson bought the 33,760-acre Tobey Ranch, part of which became the town of Jourdanton, where Campbell served as bank vice president and lobbied hard for a railroad. His efforts helped make Jourdanton the county seat in 1910 and pushed a highway project linking the county's towns.
Why it matters
Campbell's story shows how a single determined booster could conjure a county-seat town out of ranchland by marrying land deals, banking, and the pursuit of rail and road connections.
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Related people
- · Jourdan Campbell
- · John Campbell
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Jourdanton
Jourdanton, TX
In 1909 two entrepreneurs—merchant Jourdan Campbell and Danish wool-and-mohair man Theodore Zanderson—laid out a town on their ranch and persuaded a land speculator to bring the railroad through; the first train arrived that September. Jourdanton quickly gained utilities, a bank, a newspaper and churches, and in 1910 wrested the county seat from Pleasanton. Oil and gas discoveries in the 1940s and later lignite mining kept the town growing well after the railroads stopped running.
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Old San Antonio-Laredo Road
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