The first postcard pictures a statue of RenŽ-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, rows of U.S Army tents, and a couple 1940s cars. The card is marked as follows:
The second postcard pictures many Soldiers in uniform on a row of (11) anti aircraft guns on the beach. In the background there are two lookout towers, a truck, and a Jeep. It is marked as follows:
The third postcard pictures the same Soldiers and (11) anti aircraft guns but from the other end of the beach. There are rifles standing in the foreground and part of a lookout tower on the right. It reads as follows:
Indianola, Texas
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Indianola is a ghost town located on Matagorda Bay in Calhoun County, Texas, United States. The community, once the county seat of Calhoun County, is a part of the Victoria, Texas, Metropolitan Statistical Area. In 1875, the city had a population of 5,000, but on September 15 of that year, a powerful hurricane struck, killing between 150 and 300 and almost entirely destroying the town. Indianola was rebuilt, only to be wiped out on August 19, 1886, by another intense hurricane, which was followed by a fire.
History
Indianola was first known as Indian Point and served briefly as a military camp during the Texas Revolution. The land was then acquired by Samuel Addison White in 1842. White struck a deal with Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels, to allow German immigrants to disembark at Indian Point in December, 1844. William M. Cook acquired half-interest in Indian Point in August, 1845. By the beginning of 1846, more than 3000 German immigrants had arrived at Indian Point. Many were unable to travel to the German colonies established inland. These immigrants purchased land from Samuel White and established a settlement at Indian Point. The name of the settlement changed to Indianola in 1849 by combining the word ''Indian'' with ''ola'', the Spanish word for wave. The German immigrants continued to refer to the community as Karlshaven (Carl's Harbor) in honor of Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels.
From its founding in 1846, Indianola served as a major port, and before the 1875 storm was second only to Galveston as Texas' primary port. The town incorporated in 1853. In 1856, the port received cargoes of camels, part of the US Army Camel Corps experiment to replace horses and mules as the primary pack animal in the southwestern parts of the country.
During the American Civil War, Indianola was twice occupied by Union troops, in October 1862 and November 1863. During the second occupation, part of a Union infantry regiment moving from Indianola to Matagorda Island drowned in Matagorda Bay. In 1869, the world's first mechanically refrigerated shipment of beef left Indianola for New Orleans.
The destruction of Indianola served as an abject lesson for many residents of Galveston, 100 miles up the Texas coast. However, their calls for a seawall to protect that city went unheeded, and Galveston nearly shared Indianola's fate when the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 struck the island.
A railroad was intended to connect the port of Indianola to San Antonio; however, after the two storms, discouraged investors abandoned the venture, instead connecting Galveston. After Galveston's hurricane, shipping traffic recentered over time to inland Houston.
After the 1886 storm, the county seat was moved to Port Lavaca. On October 4, 1887, the post office in Indianola was permanently closed and the town declared ''dead''. Today, almost nothing remains of the original Indianola, as, due to storm erosion, most of the site of the city is now under water. A granite marker was placed on the shore at the nearest point to the Indianola courthouse, now 300 feet (about 90 meters) away in Matagorda Bay. The site is also home to a statue of RenŽ-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle.
During World War II, the United States Army constructed an anti-aircraft firing range along the Indianola shoreline to train gunners and the facility was used primarily by military personnel from Camp Hulen, located outside of Palacios.
Indianola is now the site of a small unincorporated fishing village.
