Leesville, Texas
Unincorporated community in Gonzales County · Not an incorporated municipality
About Leesville
Leesville is an unincorporated city in the Gonzales-Guadalupe County area in Texas, United States. The community had a population of 384 residents as of 2018.
The town was founded in 1874 and was named Leesburg for founder Newburn H. Guinn's daughter, Lee Guinn. The town was renamed Leesville by the U.S. Postal Service and was recognized by state law in 1891.
Leesville is home to a $149 million water facility and 40-mile pipeline that stores and moves to 11.6 million gallons of water toward the Greater San Antonio area.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
How Leesville is governed
Leesville appears to be an unincorporated community or a census-designated place, so it may have no city government of its own — services usually come from Gonzales County and its elected officials. The chart below is a generic template; readers can correct it if Leesville does have local officials.
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0 of 14 positions listed. Gray dashed boxes are placeholders waiting for a name.
Residents of Leesville
Registered voters elect the officials below.
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Mayor
Executive
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The city's chief elected official. Presides over the executive branch, proposes the budget and represents the city.
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City Manager / Administrator
Executive
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The professional administrator who runs day-to-day operations (in some cities appointed by the council instead of the mayor).
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Police Chief
Administration & departments
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Leads the police department.
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Fire Chief
Administration & departments
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Leads the fire and emergency services department.
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Public Works Director
Administration & departments
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Streets, water, sewer, and city buildings.
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Finance Director
Administration & departments
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The budget, taxes, and city accounts.
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Planning & Zoning Director
Administration & departments
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Land use, zoning, building permits.
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Parks & Recreation Director
Administration & departments
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Parks, programs, and public facilities.
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City Council
Legislative
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The elected body that passes ordinances, sets the tax rate and approves the budget.
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City Clerk
Administration & departments
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Keeps the official records, runs meeting agendas and, often, local elections.
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City Attorney
Administration & departments
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The city's lawyer; advises officials and prosecutes ordinance violations.
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Boards & Commissions
Legislative
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Citizen advisory bodies, such as planning, zoning appeals and library boards.
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Municipal Court
Judicial
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Hears traffic, ordinance and other minor cases.
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Municipal Judge
Judicial
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Presides over the municipal court.
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History
Name
The first settlement in Leesville began in the 1830s around Sandy Creek, said to be once landmarked by a giant granite stone. This settlement gave Leesville one of its nicknames: the Sandies. Population growth near Sandy Creek halted in the 1870s when the region's proprietor destroyed the granite landmark in retaliation to a local food theft.
The region was then named Capote, from the Spanish for "cape" or "cloak", after its Capote Hills. In the late 1800s, local land developer Newburn H. Guinn attempted to change the town's name to Leesburg after his daughter Lee. This new name was soon changed to Leesville by the local post office, which noted that another Texas town had already claimed the name Leesburg.
In the 1800s, much of south Leesville was owned by Ezekiel Wimberly Cullen, a former Congressman and Supreme Court Justice of the Republic of Texas. Cullen's ownership of this land led to another of Leesville's nicknames, the Ezekiel W. Cullen League (E.W. Cullen).
The federal government recognized Leesville, Texas in 1885 in patents "315,236" and "325,154" with the former being an "Indicator for Merchandise" and the latter being a "Marking Device." The town was officially recognized as Leesville, Texas by state law in 1891.
1800s
In 1835, at Sandies Creek in what is now Leesville, 13 traders of Mexican and French origin traveling from Louisiana to Mexico were killed by Comanche Native Americans.
One of the earliest records of settlement of the Leesville area, interchangeably Leesburg at the time, involved common property of "the people of Leesburg," most-especially a single crowbar. The crowbar was reportedly shared by the community from 1863 until 1883, when it was thought to have been used in a local theft.
Although limited historical records of the early Leesville population exist, in the 1880s, during the election for the Texas House of Representatives, votes cast from Leesville numbered in the thousands.
Governor's pardon of John Hester
John Hester, a Leesville resident during the late 1800s, was imprisoned for the felony of stealing sheep. In 1884, in a state criminal-appeal from the District Court of Gonzales County (Robert Carr v. The State), Hester exchanged his eyewitness testimony regarding the burglary of Leesville's general store for a pardon by Texas Governor John Ireland. The pardon was later revoked upon the judgement that Hester's testimony was inadmissible and unreliable.
El Capote Ranch
El Capote Ranch, a Texas historical marker that still exists today, was founded in 1806 by Joseph de la Baume (1731–1834), a French army officer who came to North America with the Marquis de Lafayette and fought in the American Revolution. He later joined the Spanish Army and was compensated for his service with the title to 27,000 acres of Texas land in what is now Leesville, upon which he developed the original El Capote Ranch. The ranch's cabin from the 1830s (now preserved in Lubbock in the Museum of Texas Tech University) represents the earliest form of dwelling utilized on the Texas frontier.
Virginia-born Michael Erskine (1794–1862) acquired the property from de la Baume's estate in 1840 and raised cattle there. The Erskine family hosted several eminent visitors, including William Bollaert of the British Royal Geographical Society (1840), Ferdinand von Roemer (1845–1847), and Frederick Law Olmsted (1857).
After the Erskine family sold the ranch in the 1870s, part of the land was deeded to Edith Kermit Carow, the second wife of Theodore Roosevelt. During the Spanish–American War, Roosevelt rode a horse from the ranch, named Seguin, at the 1898 Battle of San Juan Hill. Several other horses from El Capote were used by the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry ("Roosevelt's Rough Riders") as well.
In 1880, the San Antonio Express newspaper rated the Capote Ranch as "the largest and most complete farm in Texas... if not in the south," giving examples of the diversity of livestock and crops that were raised at the scale of 75 workers over 20,000 acres. The farm's stock included 2,800 heads of cattle, 6,000 Berkshire pigs and various other types of livestock and agriculture.
The ranch was acquired in 1897 by Judge Leroy Gilbert Denman (1855–1916), a justice of the Texas Supreme Court, and is currently owned by his descendants. At present day, the property's remaining estate has generated significant caselaw in Texas in ConocoPhillips Co. v. Ramirez, in which the rights to the minerals beneath the ranch's soil were contested.
Littlefield-Martin feud and legacy
In 1880, two generations of the Leesville families Littlefield and Martin received national attention after three Littlefield family members died in a revolver gunfight between the two families. The late George W. Littlefield was the grandson of one of the deceased Littlefields. In 1883, George Littlefield relocated to the state capital of Austin, Texas from South Texas. His Littlefield Building on Congress Avenue in downtown Austin now houses Capital One Bank. From 1895 to 1903, Littlefield also owned the Driskill Hotel, located near the Littlefield Building. He installed the first electric lighting system in the hotel, which became a gathering place for Texas politicians during much of the 20th century. He willed his residence, the Littlefield House, to the University of Texas.
Peebles' election
In 1889, over a thousand people of the Leesville general area elected the Representative James William Peebles for the local legislative seat without Peebles' direct involvement in the campaign. Peebles had lived in Leesville since 1869, but he had never exhibited any "political aspirations." Despite having no previous political experience, Peebles won the legislative seat by a margin of a thousand votes. In 1891, he was elected to a second term in the same Leesville district.
1900s
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.