DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker says about the City of Hitchcock, out there in Galveston County. Before there was a town — before a railway or a produce house or a single saloon — this stretch of land belonged to the Karankawa Indians. That held through the early 1800s, up until the 1820s or so.
After that, cattle raisers moved in and worked the land, and for a good while that was the whole story. Then came the iron rails. The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway pushed through this part of the world in the 1870s, and when they needed a name for the station they'd built out here, they reached back to a man who would never see it himself — Lent Munson Hitchcock, a Galveston civic leader and a landowner who had died back in 1869.
Born in 1810. The railway named that station for him, and the town that grew up around it carried that name forward. By the 1880s, George Henckel had opened a produce commission house right there on the railway line.
That was the seed of something bigger. Fruit and vegetable growers started working the land in earnest, and some names rose to the top — Emil and Hypolite Perthius, H. M.
Stringfellow, Jacques Tacquard. These were the leaders among the growers, the folks who made this place hum. And where there's commerce, there's a town trying to become itself.
Stores appeared. A butcher shop. A bakery.
A hotel. Saloons — more than one, the marker's honest about that. The townsite was platted and a public school opened in 1894.
Churches weren't far behind. St. Mary's Catholic parish — later known as Our Lady of Lourdes — put up the first house of worship in town.
And in that same year of 1894, a building for Protestants went up, and it became a Methodist church. Other faiths arrived after that, filling in the community one congregation at a time. Now, a place that's growin' has a way of teaching you that nothing lasts forever unchanged.
After 1920, the truck farming that had built this town began to decline. The packing houses closed. The 1930s were lean years, and local men found work over in Texas City to get by.
But then the world cracked open in a different way. In 1940, a Coast Auxiliary Army Replacement Center opened right here in Hitchcock. It would later become Camp Wallace — an anti-aircraft training center.
And if that wasn't enough to stake a claim on wartime history, a blimp base was operated here from 1941 to 1945, running surveillance missions against enemy submarines out over those Gulf waters. Blimps. Watching for submarines.
Above a town that started as a Karankawa homeland, became cattle country, got named for a man already in his grave, and grew up on strawberries and saloons. Today Hitchcock stands as a center of small business and industry, with modern homes on garden acreage — owned and occupied by the urban and industrial workers who call it home. Some places just keep finding new ways to be necessary.
Hitchcock is one of those places.
What the marker says
In region held before 1820s by Karankawa Indians, and afterwards by cattle raisers. The Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway built through the area in 1870s, naming station for Galveston civic leader and late landowner, Lent Munson Hitchcock (1810-1869). On the railway, George Henckel in 1880s opened a produce commission house. Leaders among fruit and vegetable growers included Emil and Hypolite Perthius, H. M. Stringfellow, and Jacques Tacquard. Stores, a butcher shop, bakery, hotel, and saloons were established. The townsite was platted and public school opened 1894. Churches were active. St. Mary's (later Our Lady of Lourdes) Catholic parish had first house of worship. A building for Protestants, soon a Methodist church, was erected 1894. Other faiths arrived later. After 1920, truck farming declined; packing houses closed. In 1930s, local men found work in Texas City. A Coast Auxiliary Army Replacement Center opened here in 1940; it later became Camp Wallace, an anti-aircraft training center. A blimp base was operated 1941-45, for surveillance against enemy submarines. Hitchcock remains a center of small business and industry, with modern homes on garden acreage owned and occupied by urban and industrial workers.