COTTON GINS IN TEXAS
Vintage Photos & Postcards - Series One

Editor’s Note: Will and Karla Beauchamp of Tuleta, Texas both descend from ancestors who planted cotton. Will’s father also taught Texas history in nearby Pettus, Texas. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree and Will discovered early on that he had inherited the history gene.


In Mr. Beauchamp’s own words: “I started out collecting antique bottles in my youth in the Tuleta / Beeville area of South Texas. My father teaching history just fueled my desire to collect historical items, especially from South Texas. I then started collecting cotton gin postcards. Almost every town in Texas had at least one cotton gin and many had several. Before and after the Civil War many Southerners migrated to Texas. The families were so big that most farms were self-sufficient. Many cotton farmers who knew nothing else found that cotton didn't grow very well in some regions.

About five years ago I caught the bridge craze. The story of the old Texas bridges is similar to the fate of the gins. Almost all of them are gone now and it's a history that some of us want to save. I thought that by sharing my collection with Texas Escapes’ readers, it would reach a much larger audience than it would stuck away and only seen by a few.”