La Salle County finds itself surfing a wave of prosperity

An honor guard brings in the first flags to be hoisted over the newly restored La Salle County Courthouse during grand opening ceremonies in Cotulla last weekend. Photo: Tom Reel, San Antonio Express-News
COTULLA — The newly restored La Salle County Courthouse opened over the weekend with a flourish — speeches, guided tours and free barbecue.
When the project started a few years ago, the $8 million budget seemed enormous in a county that had seen little meaningful construction activity in decades.
Now, it's a tiny slice of the buzz.
“We've been out there four years. At that time it was one of the biggest projects in the county,” La Salle County Judge Joel Rodriguez Jr. said. “Now it's a drop in the bucket.”
La Salle County, traditionally known for its trophy deer, now has a reputation for producing crude oil.

La Salle County Courthouse rededicated
Click here for photos of the event.
COTULLA, Texas—The La Salle County Courthouse was rededicated on Jan. 26, following a four-year restoration made possible with more than $3.5 million in grant funds from the Texas Historical Commission (THC) through its award-winning Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program.
Construction began on the project in 2009 to return the 1931 courthouse to its former glory. The building was designed by renowned Texas courthouse architect Henry Phelps, considered his last, most ambitious and imaginative courthouse design. The courthouse sits in the center and highest point of Cotulla, facing a public square.
|
DOWNTOWN COTULLA ONE STEP CLOSER TO NATIONAL RECOGNITIONBy Marc Robertson
The Cotulla Main Street Program, now in its sixth year of operations, has taken another step towards having the city listed on the National Register of Historic Places, with an application presently under review by the National Parks Service.Designated a Main Street City in 2006 and marking the occasion with a ceremony attended by Texas First Lady Anita Perry in February the following year, Cotulla stands at the crossroads of South Texas' most significant trade routes and has played an integral part in the civilization, population and commercialization of the region for centuries. In the heart of the city, today's heavily used roads are primarily occupied by trucks traveling to and from the oil rigs over the Eagle Ford Shale, and while these may bring a new economic boom to the region, previous travelers did the same for the communities that lined the trade routes between the Gulf of Mexico and San Antonio. The intersection of downtown Cotulla's Front Street and State Highway 97 is designated as a point on the Camino Real, the King's Highway, also referred to as the Old San Antonio Road. Not only did the route lead pilgrims from Mexico to the Missions in San Antonio but it also helped bring some of the earliest settlers to the region, including Native Americans and later explorers. The vital trade route crosses the Union Pacific Railroad in downtown Cotulla today, and while wagon traffic may have brought settlers to the region in past centuries - as well as the Mexican army of General Santa Anna en route to the Alamo in 1836 - it was the advent of the steam locomotive and the iron rails that brought business to the newly settled La Salle County seat in the late 1800s.
Meat on the old bones |



