After the 1840 Comanche raid on Linnville, most of the residents moved 3 ½ miles south and started the town of Lavaca. By 1846, when Calhoun County was established, Lavaca had become the county seat. Originally named La Vaca (Spanish for “the cow,” likely referring to the bison that once roamed the area), the town was officially designated as Port Lavaca in 1879.
Lavaca had seven wharves. Some of the items they shipped out were cotton, wool, the hooves, hides and horns of beef, tallow, pecans, and copper, as well as lead and silver from Mexico. This was a period of great growth for the town.
In 1856, the San Antonio Mexican Gulf Railroad started laying its rails and the line opened in 1857. This connected Port Lavaca with Victoria. North of Lavaca, the Indianola railroad joined this line at Clark’s Station.
As the size of Indianola grew, Lavaca tried to keep its place as the main port and the county seat but in 1852 Indianola took that away from Lavaca. Most of the shipping moved to Indianola as well.
In 1862, during the Civil War, Northern gunboats attacked Lavaca. It was defended by two waterfront units and managed to make the Federal ships turn back. A man named E. C. Singer created some of the first underwater contact mines for the Confederacy. He owned a foundry on Lavaca Bay. He created the “Singer Secret Service Corps,” known as the “Singer Submarine Corps” and the “Singer’s Torpedo Company.” He is known as the man who helped to create the Confederate submarine, the Hunley, in Charleston, South Carolina. They used Singer’s torpedo to blow up the USS Housatonic before the submarine sank with all hands. Federal troops occupied Lavaca in December 1863. Lavaca lost its wharves and its railroad during the war leading to Indianola becoming the more important town and county seat.
Later, following the 1886 hurricane that destroyed Indianola, Port Lavaca became the county seat once more and still is today.
Port Lavaca features the restored Half Moon Reef Lighthouse, first installed above a submerged shoal along the eastern side of nearby Matagorda Bay in 1858 to signal safe passage to mariners sailing into the bays from the Gulf of Mexico. The Calhoun County Museum explores the history of the Texas Mid-Gulf Coast, including the nearby town of Indianola, lost to a hurricane in 1886. Community theatre is alive and well in Port Lavaca, and the restored Main Street Theatre offers a lively performance series several weekends throughout the year.