Wallisville, Texas

Wallisville is an unincorporated town in northern Chambers County, Texas, United States. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had a population of 460 in 2000. It is located within the Greater Houston metropolitan area.

History
This town was the county seat for Chambers County from 1858 to 1908 when the county seat was moved to Anahuac. The town was named after Elisha Henry Roberts Wallis, one of the original settlers of the site. The Wallises' home would be used to house the captured Mexican dictator Antonio López de Santa Anna in 1836 as he was being transported as a prisoner to Washington, D.C. Sons of the elder Wallis, Solomon B. and Daniel B. Wallis, had the townsite divided into eighteen blocks in 1854. In 1857, a post office would be established there with Albert G. van Pradelles serving as postmaster, and within the following year, Wallisville was chosen over Anahuac for the new county seat. In 1858, Wallisville and Liberty merchants and officials vied for the attention of the Texas and New Orleans Railroad, which ultimately chose to travel via Liberty. The town served as a steamboat landing for the Trinity River servicing the lumber and shipbuilding trades, the two businesses that would fuel the local economy. Union Mills, founded by Robert Kilgore and a partner called Clark, was the first sawmill. Around the 1880s, several mills were thriving, and in 1897, William E. Stephens founded a sizable mill. The C. R. Cummings Lumber Company, which was founded in 1899 when Charles R. Cummings and his brother Jesse combined their two mills from Liberty and Anahuac and relocated to Wallisville on the west bank of the Trinity River, was the largest sawmill ever established. John W. Cook was the owner and operator of another mill. In the town's history, shipbuilding has shown to be a reliable industry at different points. As early as 1855, McLelland and Dunman produced sailboats and steamboats. Subsequent shipyards emerged, one of which was constructed in 1901 by C. R. Cummings. The final shipbuilding endeavor took place in the early 1940s when the first steel boat on the lower Trinity was built by Dunman Marine Services.

In 1875, arsonists demolished Wallisville's courthouse. In 1886, a large brick courthouse was built; in 1895, a unique jail and hanging tower were added. In 1895, a Ladies' Aid Society donated money to build a Methodist church. Services for Methodists, Baptists, Catholics, and Presbyterians were held in different places before that. Even though black Baptist and Methodist churches got together after the Civil War, only the Baptist church was still open in the late 1980s. The Age was the first newspaper printed in Chambers County, starting in Wallisville in 1897 under the direction of Dan H. McGary. In the first ten years of the twentieth century, five more newspapers were published there. Additional enterprises flourished, including general stores, a saddle shop, a cotton gin, an ice cream parlor, a skating rink, lodging facilities, and a cobbler's shop. Many doctors and lawyers had practices in Wallisville. The region suffered widespread damage during the 1875 Indianola hurricane and was almost completely destroyed in the 1915 hurricane. In 1906, businessmen in Anahuac pushed to have an election to move the county seat there. The Chambers County voters approved this the following year, and in 1908, the county records were moved to Anahuac. For many years, Wallisville was home to the production of the famed Harvey Spur, a popular item on ranges throughout Southeast Texas. In 1952, work on building a saltwater barrier or reservoir at Wallisville commenced, and in 1957, the Trinity River Authority, the Chambers-Liberty Counties Navigation District, the city of Houston, and the US Army Corps of Engineers signed a contract to begin construction of the reservoir. In 1966, the project got underway after the federal government bought the townsite. In 1974, Houston-based federal judge Carl O. Bue, Jr. issued an injunction stopping the reservoir's construction due to environmental concerns. After the Corps made various other modifications and shrunk the projected reservoir, a federal appeals court removed the injunction in 1987. Environmental organizations persisted in opposing the project. In 1990, the town's population was 377. The population was 460 in 2000.

A military settlement, known as "El Orcoquisac", consisting of the Spanish fort, Presidio San Augustín de Ahumada and its complementing partner, Mission Nuestra Señora de la Luz, was established in 1756, on the east bank of the Trinity River near present-day Wallisville, upon the former site of an early French trading post.

After Hurricane Ike, the United States Postal Service temporarily relocated Wallisville post office box services to Mont Belvieu, Texas.

In 1907, the Riverside and Gulf Railway proposed a line from Livingston to Wallisville via Milvid on the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway. It only operated a logging line at the latter place until 1914.

Although it is unincorporated, Wallisville has a post office, with the ZIP code of 77597.

Elisha Wallis had come to the area from Georgia. His land grant was given to him by Joseph Vehlein, who worked to bring new settlers to Texas. Its population was 728 in 1900 and also had a shipyard, a lumberyard, and an export house. Many animals used to roam here, thus causing a "county seat hog war". There is also a cemetery in the community.

Geography
Wallisville is located on Interstate 10 on the east side of the Trinity River, 42 mi west of Beaumont, 20 mi east of Baytown, and 11 mi northwest of Anahuac in northern Chambers County. Lake Charlotte is located three miles outside of the community.

Climate
The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Wallisville has a humid subtropical climate, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps.

On January 24, 2023, an Ef0 tornado struck the community. It crossed Interstate 10 and damaged some trees.

Education
Wallisville had a school in 1869 and remained standing for the Methodist congregation and several others to hold church services in. Today, the community is served by the Anahuac Independent School District.

Wallisville Heritage Park
In 1979 a private, nonprofit organization named the Wallisville Heritage Park was organized by concerned residents interested in saving the original Wallisville townsite. This organization operates for the preservation, restoration, and study of the Wallisville Townsite and the El Orcoquisac Archeological District, two sites that are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

The Chambers County Museum is also located in Wallisville.

Notable people

 * Hugh Jackson, member of the Texas House of Representatives for the 20th Texas Legislature.
 * Mayes Middleton, politician and businessman, was born in Wallisville.