Lavaca County

Lavaca County, located in the Claypan area of southeast Central Texas, is surrounded on the north by Fayette County, on the east by Colorado and Jackson counties, on the south by Victoria County, and on the west by DeWitt and Gonzales counties.

Cities, Towns & Communities

Good Hope | Hackberry | Half Moon | Hallettsville – county seat | Hope | Midway | Moravia | Moulton | Novohrad | Old Moulton | Petersburg | Pilot Grove | Rabb Switch | Radhost | Shiloh | Shiner | Sweet Home | Velehrad | Vienna | Worthing | Yoakum

History

In 1842 the Republic of Texas Congress established a judicial county from portions of Fayette, Colorado, Jackson, Victoria, and Gonzales counties and named it La Baca County. In 1846 the area was renamed Lavaca County, and it became a regularly constituted county with 140 taxpayers. Petersburg and Hallettsville vied to be county seat, and after two hotly contested elections Hallettsville won the contest in 1852; only by force of arms, however, were the men of Hallettsville able to liberate the county records from Petersburg. The population grew rapidly during the late 1840s; by 1850 the number of inhabitants reached 1,571. The majority of the new settlers were from the Old South, and many brought slaves with them. Already in 1850 there were 379 bondsmen in the county, and the number grew steadily over the next decade. 

Location

Hallettsville, TX 29° 26′ 37.8708″ N, 96° 56′ 27.9348″ W

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