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Van
Vleck Texas
By Clint
Skinner
Van Vleck is a small city located in the northeastern portion of Matagorda
County near Bay City. It currently
has 2,387 residents living on 3.2 square miles of land. One of the
signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence, Bailey Hardeman
first settled the area sometime during the the early 1830s. Unfortunately,
he died the same year that Texas won the revolution. The settlers
started calling their town Hardeman during the 1840s to honor
him.
The Texas and New Orleans Railroad, a subsidiary of the Southern Pacific
Railroad Company, arrived in Matagorda
County in 1899 and built a station at Hardeman. In 1901, the residents
named the town after W. G. Van Vleck, the superintendent of the parent
company. In 1930, the construction of Highway 35 forced the town to
move southeast where it currently stands. First Baptist Church of
Van Vleck was built in 1955 and a Methodist Church followed suit three
years later.
The city acquired some attention and fame in 1996 as the home of Charles
Austin, a high jumper who won a gold medal at the Summer Olympics
that year. The population reached 1,411 in 2000. A decade later, the
first doctor's clinic opened, First Baptist Church moved to a new
location, and the number of residents increased to 1,844.
Today, Van Vleck has its own fire department and school district.
The education system consists of one elementary school, two middle
schools, and one high school. However, there is no local hospitals.
When it comes to law enforcement, the city relies upon the county
police.
Bibliography
Tshaonline.org
Wikipedia.org |
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Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
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