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Medio Creek Bridge at Tuleta Texas. |
"Writing
on the back of the postcard is a message from one of the men pictured
on the bridge to his sister. He states this is the new bridge they
just built. Postcard dated May 1909." - Will
Beauchamp, Taft, Texas (formerly of Tuleta)
See also Medio Creek
Bridge in nearby Normanna |
History
in a Pecan Shell
Founded in 1906 by a German Mennonite minister named Peter Unzicker,
the town was named for the daughter of J. M. Chittum of the Chittum-Miller
ranch, original landowners. Unzicker headed up a colony of Mennonites
who were transmigrating from Cullom, Illinois.
A brief timeline of significant incidents in Tuleta's history:
1881: The San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway built across the Chittum-Miller
ranch ranch.
1906: depot opens
1907: post office opens and the Mennonite church is built.
1910: Amanda Stoltzfus organized the Tuleta Agriculture High School,
the first of its kind in Texas.
1929: Oil and gas are discovered nearby
Tuleta once had three churches-Mennonite, Presbyterian, and Baptist
- of which only the Baptist remained in 1990.
The
town celebrates Tuleta Day on the second Saturday in August
Tuleta Images: Vintage Photos
| Tuleta Today
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Tuleta
Texas Vintage Photos
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Agriculture
High School - postmarked on back Jan 12, 1911
Postcard courtesy Will Beauchamp |
Peter
Unzicker residence (founder of Tuleta) - about 1910
Postcard courtesy Will Beauchamp |
One
of the new homes of Tuleta, about 1910
Postcard courtesy Will Beauchamp |
Tuleta
historical marker
Photo courtesy Ken Rudine, August 2007 |
The
closed churches in Tuleta
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, December 2006 |
The
post office
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, December 2006 |
Closed
gas station in Tuleta
Photo courtesy Ken Rudine, August 2007 |
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The
brick grade school was burned beyond repair in 2002.
TE Photos June 2002 |
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Tuleta,
Texas Forum
Subject: Naming
of Tuleta
The town Tuleta was named for a cousin of mine. My great-grandmother,
Arminta Chittim Grace was a sister of J.M. Chittim. The town was named
after his daughter Tuleta. In approximately, 1888 or 1889, my great
grand parents went to Texas to visit her brother James Madison Chittim.
On that visit they met their niece, Tuleta Chittim and liked the name
so well that when they returned to Missouri and my grandmother became
more than a twinkle in his eye, they named her Tuleta and I in turn
was named for her.
I have always wondered and can find no trace of where the name came
from or how it came to be in that part of Texas. I keeps popping up
in the most unexpected places. A street in Honolulu, a full-blooded
Cherokee laborer named William Tuleta Claw, and so on. Can you give
me any answers? I am very honored to have a town with the same name
and a zip code. - Tuleta Owens Gilchrist, January 28, 2005
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Subject:
Young Family Photo Postcards and Letters
"Here are some of the postcards dated 1909-1915 from the Young
Family. I would like to find any decendents of the family and send
them to them. I have over 25 photo postcards and a few letters. The
names on them are Earle and Loretta, Cy, Frank, Rose Elizabeth. I
believe they all lived in the Normanna area." - paint320@sbcglobal.net
April 21, 2004
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