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The courthouse
square in Batesville
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, October 2005 |
History in
a Pecan Shell
Batesville
was first settled in the 1860s with the namesake Bates family arriving
around 1869 and starting the Bates Ranch. The Leona River was dammed
in 1876, to irrigate crops. The 500 irrigated acres were then sold
off in small plots to farmers. After irrigation the community assumed
the name of Bate's Ditch and when Zavalla
County was formed in 1884, the town took the more dignified name
of Batesville.
The county built its first courthouse
in Batesville in 1884, using mud from the Leona River to make bricks.
A post office was granted the same year. The town had a respectable
population of 500 by the early 1890s.
In 1927 Crystal City took over
as Zavala county seat, although Batesville's economy stayed strong.
The population in the early 30s was down to 200 with only four businesses.
Prosperity came after WWII
when increased irrigation was installed and the town was electrified.
The population remained at 200 in 1947 but the droughts of the early
and mid 1950s took its toll and the irrigation system was neglected,
resulting in the company losing its charter. The 1963 population was
estimated at 250 but fell to less than 200 by the 1970s where it remained
through the 1980s, increasing slowly to the 2000 population of 1,298.
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"This is
a photo of a picture of the 1885 Zavala County courthouse (in Batesville)
that hangs in the county clerk's office in the current
courthouse." - Terry
Jeanson, April 2007
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Historical
Marker:
Site of First
Zavala County Courthouse
Zavala
County was created in 1858 from Maverick and Uvalde counties.
Named for Lorenzo de Zavala, a veteran of the Battle
of San Jacinto, the county was not organized for judicial purposes
until 1884. In that year citizens elected county officials and selected
Batesville as the county seat.
Batesville originally was known as the Bates Ditch community
or Bates City. Elijah A. and Ellen J. Bates are credited with
its founding. They came to the area in the late 1860s and became a
prominent ranching family. Bates, who is credited with the first irrigation
project in the area, began selling two-acre plots of the irrigated
farmland, and a settlement grew up near his home.
After the selection of Batesville as the Zavala County Seat, Bates
conveyed a portion of his land for use as a courthouse square. The
first county courthouse and jail were constructed at this site in
1885. Built of burnt bricks made from Leona River soil, the two story
courthouse featured offices downstairs and a courtroom upstairs. The
structure was used as the county courthouse until 1928, when the seat
of government was moved to Crystal
City. The old courthouse then was used for a variety of purposes
until it was torn down in 1947.
(1984) |
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Site of First
Zavala County Courthouse Historical Marker
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, October 2005 |
1920s Zavala
County map showing Batesville on the Leona river
From Texas state map #10749
Courtesy Texas General Land Office |
| Texas
Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories,
landmarks and recent or vintage photos, please contact
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