Woodward

Woodward is a rural community eight miles northwest of Cotulla on Farm Road 469 in northwestern La Salle County. It was established on the San Antonio, Uvalde and Gulf Railroad (known as the “Sausage” railroad) in 1907 as an early land development project based on the potential of agricultural production and named for David “D. J.” Woodward, the San Antonio-based promoter and founder of the Woodward Carriage Company and Body Works of Austin. In January 1907 Woodward brought in two train cars of Japanese laborers who were emigrating from Mexico and fifty to seventy-five Mexican laborers to convert the native brushland into productive fields. He planned to have 5,000 acres in cultivation later that year and grow the new community to a population of 10,000. In 1907 the town of Woodward was granted a post office, which served the community until it closed in 1955.

Woodward grew relatively slowly and by 1910 only had a population of fifty. The community was centered around a flowing artesian well, where D. J. Woodward established a bottling plant and marketed the product as Woodward “Vichey Water,” which was recommended for kidney problems. Soon the town of Woodward had a small frame schoolhouse. In 1924 a brick schoolhouse replaced the modest earlier structure and doubled as a church on Sunday afternoons and housed Sunday School and other community events. In 1922 the school boasted ninety-six students. By 1925 the school population rose to 217 students, about 10 percent of the school enrollment for LaSalle County, and, according to one account, there were 173 students enrolled in the town's school in 1931. By the late 1920s Woodward had the new school, a railroad depot, a thirteen-room hotel (which burned down in 1928), a cotton gin, and a grocery store that sold Texaco gasoline. On the 1930 census, Woodward consisted of thirty-six persons that represented seven households.

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John Leffler, William V. Scott | © TSHA

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Adapted from the official Handbook of Texas, a state encyclopedia developed by Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). It is an authoritative source of trusted historical records.

Belongs to

Woodward is part of or belongs to the following places:

Currently Exists

Yes

Place type

Woodward is classified as a Town

Location

Latitude: 28.53359570
Longitude: -99.32086920

Has Post Office

No

Is Incorporated

No

Population Count, 2014

6