Townsend boxville11/27/2022 ![]() ![]() In 1887 the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway completed its line through the old Coulter grant and connected Eagle Lake in Colorado County with Hallettsville in Lavaca County. However, by 1875 a post office named Sublime was established near the river crossing to serve residents living east of the Navidad. The area was covered by dense thickets of yaupon, wild grape, oak, and pecan and was known at the time as the territory of the "wild man of the Navidad." Most of the flood-prone area was used only as unimproved range for cattle. In March 1840 he located his land in two blocks running roughly east to west on the east bank of the Navidad River in Lavaca County. Coulter of San Augustine County received a land grant certificate on the basis of residency in Texas prior to the Texas Declaration of Independence. Highway 90-A, eight miles east of Hallettsville in eastern Lavaca County. ![]() Sublime is at the intersection of Farm roads 142, 146, and 125 and U.S. In 1990 the population was still reported at sixty. In 1987 the post office, a store, and the church remained, serving a dispersed population of about sixty. The discovery of the Speaks oilfield and the Seclusion gas field raised the value of property in the area but not the size of the community. By 1950 the settlement had two stores, a population of fifty, and the Speaks Community Church. Koonce reestablished the store and post office under the name of Speaks, and with the coming of a new wave of residents the community grew and prospered. Under the new name the post office operated until 1882, when the store apparently closed. In 1866 the community, named Speaksville in honor of the owner of its single store, acquired a post office that remained in operation until 1876, when the name of the community was changed to Boxville. White received a much larger grant that surrounded Cartwright's land and included most of the area that became Speaks. Cartwright received from the Mexican government a small grant of land on the east side of the Navidad River near the crossing of the Atascosito road. Speaks is on Farm Road 530 twenty miles southeast of Hallettsville in Lavaca County. No other businesses remain in Seclusion and most of the community's students attend school in Hallettsville. The discovery of oil and the Provident City gas field during the 1950s led to the construction of the Wilcox Gas Plant. Toward the eastern end of the community large acreages are given to rice. Heavy vegetation grows along the river, and cleared areas are used for pasture. The surrounding area is flat and poorly drained and, along the river, subject to floods. A post office was established in 1879 and continued operation until 1914. A Methodist church and a school called Boxville were established, but the community became known as Seclusion due to its isolation. Ragsdale, Stephen Townsend, and Aaron Monroe secured grants as their headrights or bought land along the eastern bank of the Navidad River below its confluence with Ragsdale Creek. During the 1840s settlers including John D. Seclusion is a decentralized community southeast of the intersection of Farm roads 5, twenty miles southeast of Hallettsville in far eastern Lavaca County. See Rabb Switch entry at the Handbook of Texas Online When the school was closed in 1953, students were transferred five miles west to the Hallettsville Independent School District, and the population declined thereafter as businesses closed. The railroad ceased operations during the 1950s, at the same time that U. Two stores opened at Rabb Switch, and a school built in the 1800s was moved to the community in 1919 and served 30-35 students. The land that was cleared of firewood was used to farm cotton and corn, the primary source of income for farmers in the area. The switch was constructed and local residents cut and loaded firewood for shipment to Houston. The San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad was built across the Navidad River in 1887. Rabb left a will with instructions calling for a wood and water switch to serve the railroad to be built on a portion of his land. Rabb settled in this area and purchased 2089 acres of land from S. Rabb (1855-1908) a native of La Grange, Fayette County, Texas, was the son of William and Prudence Smalley Rabb. ![]()
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