Site of the Town of Indianola
Indianola, Calhoun County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(1844-1886) First called by German immigrants Karlshaven, an important port of Texas. Cargoes of ships were hauled to and from points in Texas and Mexico by carts until 1860 when the San Antonio and Mexico Gulf Railroad and the Indianola Railroad were completed to Victoria. The town was partly destroyed with great loss of life by a hurricane, September 17, 1875. It was rebuilt but completely destroyed by another hurricane, August 20, 1886.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Founded by German immigrants in 1844 as Karlshaven, Indianola grew into one of Texas's most important ports, its docks funneling goods to and from the interior of Texas and Mexico. Rail links to Victoria arrived by 1860, and the bustling town seemed destined for greatness. Then a devastating hurricane in 1875 killed many residents; the town rebuilt, only to be wiped out entirely by a second storm in 1886.
Why it matters
Indianola is one of America's great vanished cities—a thriving immigrant port erased by the Gulf, a stark reminder of how nature could unmake even the busiest frontier boomtowns.
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Related events
- · Hurricane of 1875
- · Hurricane of 1886
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Indianola
Indianola, TX
Once a great Texas seaport, Indianola saw the sweep of the state's history pass through its wharves: Spanish exploration, La Salle's 1685 landing nearby, German colonists led by Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels, frontier army supplies, and even the U.S. Army's experimental camels. During the Civil War it and nearby Fort Esperanza were prizes in the Federal blockade, changing hands after fierce fighting in 1863. Twin hurricanes in 1875 and 1886 finally wiped the town from the coast.
Judge Henry Joseph Huck
Indianola, TX
Educated in Germany and seasoned as a young merchant in London, Henry Joseph Huck sailed to America in the 1840s and made his way to Indian Point—soon the booming Gulf port of Indianola. He opened lumber yards, became one of Calhoun County's first probate judges, promoted railroads, and served as a Confederate quartermaster during the Civil War. Twice hurricanes battered Indianola, and the catastrophic 1886 storm destroyed his business and the town itself, driving him at last to Austin.
Zimmerman Cemetery
Port Lavaca, TX
This coastal graveyard, whose earliest marked burial dates to 1852, holds an unlikely thread of American military history. Buried here are John Gonzales and Joseph Mendez, natives of Spain who came to Indianola in 1858 as caretakers for a shipload of camels the U.S. Army had imported in its famous experiment to use the animals for frontier transport. The cemetery served the vanished port communities of Magnolia Beach and Indianola and took its name from the Zimmerman family, tied in by marriage.
Andrew A. Rasmussen
Port O'Connor, TX
A Danish teenager who crossed the Atlantic at thirteen, Andrew Rasmussen spent sixty years at sea along the Texas coast. After his own schooner wrecked in 1885, he joined the very Saluria life-saving crew that had rescued him, rising by 1889 to command the station that later folded into the U.S. Coast Guard. In 1911 he and his wife Theresa built their home on this spot near the Gulf.