Resources – W. C. Williams Building

Resources for research

Palacios and Matagorda County History

Palacios Birds Eye View, 1940s showing back of Williams Building (Cash Hardware) — Palacios Birds Eye View, 1940s showing back of Williams Building (Price Cash Hardware)

If you don’t know about the Portal to Texas History, you should check out https://texashistory.unt.edu/. The site maintained by the University of North Texas (UNT), is the most extensive repository of historical information on Texas. It’s a great site to search for relatives, events and other items. Palacios has been a participant in the Portal since 2016 and is proud to have two local Portal Partners, the Palacios Library and the Palacios Area Historical Association (PAHA). Both these partners have provided extensive collections, which are now on-line and are keyword searchable.

♦Palacios Library:
http://bit.ly/2QWTqZG (Partner Link)

»Palacios Beacon from 1911 through current issues.

»Some issues of additional organs including Bay City News, Camp Hulen Searchlight and the Polomar Kamper.

♦Palacios Area Historical Association (PAHA) (City by the Sea Museum):
http://bit.ly/2Sujkp8 (Partner Link)

»Pictures of early Palacios in high res format, including Camp Hulen.

»2 volume historical collection titled “Historic Matagorda County,” which up to now has only been available in printed form. Volume 1 describes the history of Matagorda County, Texas, written in two parts with supplementary reference information. Part 1 includes sixteen chapters that outline the general background of the county and information for each time period from European exploration through the Texas sesquicentennial (1986). Part 2 provides more detailed information about the communities, organizations and businesses, and religion and education. Index starts on page 711. Volume 2 describes the history of Matagorda County, Texas, containing part 3 of the text. This volume contains a compilation of submitted biographies and family histories for people living in Matagorda County. Name index starts on page 581.

»Series of pamphlets titled “Driftwood,” published by Charlton Crawford a pioneer resident, who among many accomplishments founded the Crawford Packing Company and was instrumental in establishing the thriving fishing industry.

Please make a note of the above links to each collection and share this post with those you know might be interested in Palacios and Matagorda County history.

https://texashistory.unt.edu/

Palacios Historical Information (Rootsweb)

Palacios Information for Kids (Rootsweb)

Matagorda County Towns and Communities (Rootsweb)

Search the Palacios Beacon on-line resources (The Portal to Texas History)

Palacios Beacon 34 page Progress And Historical Edition, October 1939 (Original on-line documents)
A snapshot of the city in 1939, which chronicled the city’s history since its founding
(Link to original scanned on-line images from The Portal to Texas History, cortesy of the University of North Texas Libraries’ Digital Projects Unit)

Link to Palacios Historic Pictures on-line: (this also includes the 2 volume set, Historic Matagorda County.
https://texashistory.unt.edu/explore/partners/PAHA/

Link to contents of 2 volume set, Historic Matagorda County, published on Texas’ 150th anniversary.
https://texashistory.unt.edu/explore/partners/PAHA/browse/?fq=dc_type:text_book

Link to the novel Matagorda by Louis L’Amour.