The Two Hurricanes Which Erased Indianola, Texas

[Berwick Bay]

Indianola Texas—Hit by two major storms in the late 1800’s (the last one considered the strongest hurricane to strike the U.S. Coast in the 1800’s, finished off the city). Major port activity in Texas shifted north to Galveston, itself “wiped out”, but then rebuilt after the terrific hurricane of 1900.

September 14-16th, 1875

Indianola was struck by this hurricane. There was a disastrous inundation from Matagorda Bay. Three-fourths of the town was swept away...176 lives were lost. The highest wind measured was 88 m.p.h., when the anemometer blew away. Winds were estimated to be near 100 m.p.h. at the storm's peak. The storm surge was estimated near 15 feet. Looters pillaging the dead were killed themselves, 15 in all. Boats were carried 9 miles inland. In Galveston, northeast winds began on the night of the 14th. The wind was "higher and harder" than in 1867. By the 17th, the tide had risen to 6.48 feet above mean low water. Tides up to 10 feet were seen around Galveston Island. Winds were highest from the northwest, 60 mph, after the storm passed by. Some in the area estimated winds of 110 mph. Two channels were cut across the east end of the Island, with one prolonging the Bolivar Channel. Boats were pushed 5 miles inland. Out in the Gulf, the steamer Paisana, full of $200,000 in canvas bags, was lost between Brazos Santiago and Galveston.

August 19-20th, 1886: Indianola suffered another calamity from a hurricane. Winds increased throughout the night of August 19th. Matagorda Bay began to invade the city by daylight on the 20th. The wind increased to 72 m.p.h. before the Signal Office building collapsed; the observer was killed by a falling timber during his attempt at escape. A lamp in the office burned down the building, along with more than a block of neighboring buildings on both sides of the street, despite the heavy rain. The town was a "universal wreck;" not a house that was left standing was safe to dwell in. Houses, carriages, personal property, and dead animals were strewn along the coastal plain. A storm surge of 15 feet inundated the region, covering the base of the Matagorda Island lighthouse with 4 feet of water. The village of Quintana, located at the mouth of the Brazos River, was almost entirely swept away. In Galveston, winds were "furiously from the southeast" at 10 am on the 19th, causing area sand to reduce visibility to near zero (Houston Post, 8/21/1886). Winds increased until 5 P.M., and remained high until noon on the 20th; 50 mph at 10 am. Houses careened in the storm surge after midnight. Wires and trees were downed, bridges submerged, and communication was cut off. In Houston, winds increased to gale force at 930 am on the 19th. The height of the bayou rose 5-6 feet during the storm. In Victoria, an eastbound train was blown over. Two churches were damaged beyond repair. Very few buildings escaped the hurricane unharmed. At Rockport, 6 or 7 houses were leveled along with Temperence Hall and Fulton's Cistern Factory. Corpus Christi experienced winds of 75 mph out of the northwest dry up the Bay for 2 hours, leaving boats "high and dry".

It was considered the worst storm ever in much of interior South Texas. Goliad had numerous homes unroofed. La Grange had considerable damage to fruit and cotton. Wiemar saw two churches leveled and great destruction to its corn and cotton crops. Throughout Bexar County, cotton was in ruin; its Methodist church was also destroyed. In South Central Texas, damage was widespread. The storm continued northwest and caused a gale to blow with driving rains at 10 am on the 20th...with the center over San Antonio at 2:40 P.M.. Winds remained near 80 m.p.h. and the lowest pressure observed there was 29.03." At New Braunfels, the International freight depot was destroyed. One of the most positive aspects of the storm was the rain. A serious drought had developed across the region. In Galveston, water was being sold for 10 cents a bucket, which was twice the going rate for beer. It was so bad at Corpus Christi that residents had to give water to the poor, lest they die of dehydration. A number of ships met their fate off Galveston. A large schooner went on the rampage and broke through the Santa Fe bridge, pushing the train stalled on its tracks into the angry seas. The schooner Livonia capsized just off the sand bar in 6 fathoms of water. The J.W. Perry foundered 15 miles offshore. Around 30 people died and total damages were estimated near $2 million. Preceding this disaster, Indianola had been Texas' leading port of call. Due to the major destruction to their infrastructure, Galveston reaped the benefits, thereby becoming the successor to Indianola. Much would change by the turn of the century.

[hial2]

Do we have info on where Indianola was besides south of Galveston?

[Stratosphere747]

Do we have info on where Indianola was besides south of Galveston?

It was between current day Port Lavaca and Port O'Conner in Matagorda Bay..

[Berwick Bay]

http://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/at1886.asp

This popular link shows you the path of all of the known storms of 1886. 1886 was an incredible year for hurricanes. They were "many and mean", with what?? about seven strikes along the U.S. Gulf Coast. Look to the bottom right to see the name of Indianola Texas near the point of origin of this infamous storm (near Barbados). The storm's track puts it inland just south of the big bay along the central Texas Coast (Matagorda Bay). I'm thinking that Indianola must have been just south of that Bay. Perhaps someone could enlighten me. Check the link.

[Ptarmigan]

Do we have info on where Indianola was besides south of Galveston?

It's in Calhoun County, Texas.

[Ptarmigan]

I wrote an article about the 1886 Indianola Hurricane.

1886 Indianola Hurricane

[jasons2k]

Here is a map: http://www.texas-flyer.com/calhoun/img/map2.jpg

Also, from the Handbook of Texas, a description:

INDIANOLA, TEXAS. The port of Indianola, on Matagorda Bay in Calhoun County, was founded in August 1846 as Indian Point by Sam Addison Whiteqv and William M. Cook. In 1844 a stretch of beach near the point had been selected by Carl, Prince of Solms Braunfels,qv commissioner general of the Adelsverein,qv as the landing place for German immigrants bound for western Texas under the sponsorship of the society. The German landing area was referred to, briefly, as Karlshafen. One immigrant, Johann Schwartz, built the first house in the area in 1845. Indian Point became firmly established as a deep-water port during the Mexican War.qv For thirty years its army depot supplied frontier forts in western Texas. Anglo-American landowners in the area had the site surveyed in 1846 and began selling lots. The post office was opened in September 1847, and stagecoach service to the interior began in January 1848. Mrs. Angelina Belle Eberly,qv heroine of the Archive Warqv in Austin, moved to Indian Point in 1848 and operated hotels there until her death in 1860. In February 1849 the name of the growing town was changed to Indianola. Indianola was the county seat of Calhoun County from 1852 to 1886. The town grew rapidly, expanding three miles down the beach to Powderhorn Bayou, following its selection by Charles Morganqv as the Matagorda Bay terminus for his New York-based steamship line. In a short time, Indianola achieved the rank of the second port of Texas, a position it held until the catastrophic hurricane of September 16, 1875, devastated the low-lying city and caused great loss of life.

Indianola was the eastern end of the southern Chihuahua Trail, the military road to San Antonio, Austin, and Chihuahua, Mexico, as well as the road to San Diego, the shortest overland route to the Pacific. It became the chief port through which European and American immigrants flowed into western Texas. In 1850 the United States Boundary Commission landed in Indianola, en route to El Paso del Norte to begin the survey of the boundary with Mexico, as required by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.qv The first newspaper in Indianola was the Bulletin, founded in 1852 by John Henry Brown.qv Other papers of the period were the Courier, the Times, and the Indianolan. The town was incorporated in 1853, the year in which City Hospital began operation. In 1856 and 1857 two shiploads of camelsqv were landed at Indianola. Under the direction of Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, the animals were used in one of the most extraordinary experiments in the history of the department, the use of camels in the transportation of military supplies in the southwestern United States. Indianola was bombarded by Union gunboats on October 26, 1862, then occupied and looted. The Union forces withdrew the following month but returned in November 1863, seized the city again, and remained until 1864. The world's first shipment of mechanically refrigerated beef moved from Indianola to New Orleans on the Morgan steamship Agnes in July 1869, opening a new era in the transportation of perishable goods. Railroad service from Indianola to the interior began in 1871. With a population of more than 5,000, Indianola was at the peak of her prosperity when the 1875 hurricane struck. The town rebuilt on a smaller scale and then was almost obliterated by the hurricane of August 20, 1886, and the accompanying fire. By 1887 the site had been abandoned.

See also INDIANOLA HURRICANES, INDIANOLA RAILROAD.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: T. Lindsay Baker, Ghost Towns of Texas (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1986). Brownson Malsch, Indianola-The Mother of Western Texas (Austin: Shoal Creek, 1977).

Brownson Malsch

[jbgreig]

I remember my granddad talking bout the Indianola Hurricanes...

Wiped them out. He lives in Victoria.

Here is another map:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q ... =addr&om=1