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OTTINE,
TEXAS
Texas Ghost
Town
Gonzales County, Central Texas S
FM 209 and FM 1586
Adjoining the Palmetto
State Park
9 miles NW of Gonzales
7 miles S of Luling
Population 106 (estimate 2000)
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A
Nine-pin "bowling" league in Ottine c. 1890s.
Photo Courtesy of Gonzales County Records Center |
History in
a Pecan Shell
The town's name was cobbled together when Adolf Otto and his wife
Christine decided that the previous name of Otto's Mill could stand
improvement. It was also known for a brief time as Otto's Station
when the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway made it a stop on their
route.
The Ottos had naming rights since it was Adolph who had built a water
gin in 1879. The mill ran on water provided by the sulfur springs
in the swamp next to the town. Ottine prospered enough to warrant
a general store and post office by 1892. The business was opened by
the sons of Christine and Adoph.
By 1897 Ottine had two general stores as well as most essential businesses
and a gristmill (courtesy of the San Marcos River).
As difficult as it is to imagine today, local farmers produced 7,000
bales of cotton in the single year of 1899. In 1915 the population
was estimated at 200 but ten years later it had declined to a mere
100.
198 acres of the Ottine Swamp was bought by the state in 1933 and
it was renamed as Palmetto
State Park. Four years later the Warm Springs Foundation for Crippled
Children (Texas Rehabilitation Center of Gonzales) set up a facility
at the site. As a result, Ottine's population doubled to an estimated
200 by the end of WWII.
The population returned to the 100-person range in the mid 1960s and
it decreased to 90 in 1990, rebounding to the present estimate of
106. |
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The
post office as it appeared in 1999.
Photo by John Troesser |
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The
post office front door - in the shade of Chinaberry trees
Photo by John Troesser |
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The
post office interior in 1999.
Photo by John Troesser |
| The post office
which was considered by many (or at least the photographer who made
a post card of it) to be one of the more picturesque post offices
in Texas has been replaced by a modern modular post office.
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The
Post Office as Postcard.
TE Archives |
Assistant postmaster
Shirley C. related the story (in 2000) of how the building had once
been photographed without the permission of the postmaster. After
returning from a vacation, the postmaster fired off a letter to the
printing company suggesting possible litigation. A short time later
several boxes of postcards were delivered to the post office and the
matter was never mentioned again.
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Ottine,
Texas Forum
Anyone wishing
to share history or photos of Ottine, Texas, please contact
us.
© John Troesser |
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