La Salle, Jackson County, Texas
Encyclopedia
La Salle is an unincorporated community
Unincorporated area
In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 in Jackson County, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. According to the Handbook of Texas
Handbook of Texas
The Handbook of Texas is a comprehensive encyclopedia of Texas geography, history, and historical persons published by the Texas State Historical Association .-History:...

, the community had an estimated population of 103 in 2000.

Geography

La Salle is located at 28°47′30"N 96°40′09"W (28.7916577, -96.6691449). It is situated along FM 616 in southwestern Jackson County, approximately 16 miles south of Edna
Edna, Texas
Edna is a city in Jackson County, Texas, United States. The population was 5,899 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Jackson County.Edna is the gateway to Lake Texana, which covers the site of Texana, Texas...

 and 22 miles east of Victoria
Victoria, Texas
Victoria is a city in and the seat of Victoria County, Texas, United States. The population was 60,603 at the 2000 census. The three counties of the Victoria Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 111,163 at the 2000 census,...

.

History

In 1875, J.M. Bennett and brothers Sol and Ike West founded a cattle ranch at the site. The Missouri Pacific Railroad
Missouri Pacific Railroad
The Missouri Pacific Railroad , also known as the MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers, including the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway , Texas and Pacific...

 passed through the property in 1909. The three associates named the station Benwest, after the surnames of the owners. The name was changed to Bennview when the West brothers withdrew from the partnership in 1922. A town site was surveyed in 1924 and Bennett promoted a land sale that attracted a number of Poles and Czechs
Czech people
Czechs, or Czech people are a western Slavic people of Central Europe, living predominantly in the Czech Republic. Small populations of Czechs also live in Slovakia, Austria, the United States, the United Kingdom, Chile, Argentina, Canada, Germany, Russia and other countries...

 to the community. A post office was established at Bennview in 1928 and remained operational until 1930. Seven years later, citizens changed the name from Bennview to La Salle and a new post office opened along with a school and general store. La Salle's population rose from an estimated 60 residents in 1941 to just over 100 by the early 1970s. Thereafter, the community experienced a period of decline. The population fell to 75 in the late 1980s and remained at that level until 2000, when the number of inhabitants rose to approximately 103.

Although it is unincorporated, La Salle has a post office, with the ZIP code of 77969.

Education

Public education in the community of La Salle is provided by the Industrial Independent School District
Industrial Independent School District
Industrial Independent School District is a public school district based in the community of Vanderbilt, Texas, United States.The district currently serves an area of three hundred square miles in southern Jackson County and a portion of Victoria County...

.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK