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HISTORY
from Moulton, Texas
HISTORY OF MOULTON
DEEP ROOTS Historical Moulton, Texas
COMMUNITY FINDS THEIR PLACE ON THE MAP IN 1836, LONG BEFORE CITY WAS INCORPORATED IN 1937
There was no organized settlement in the beginning. Separate families lived throughout the region in isolated cabins, each working the land they owned. Further settlement came to an abrupt halt in October 1835 with the “Come and Take It” Battle at Gonzales. People who lived in what was to become the Moulton area got caught up in the Texas Revolution as did most Anglo-Americans living in Texas. Soon after the Alamo fell, General Sam Houston abandoned Gonzales and burned the town so as to leave nothing of value for the Mexicans.
On March 15, 1836 part of the Texas Army camped on the East Fork of the Lavaca River. Today a State monument on the present site of the American Legion Hall marks the approximate site. They only camped there for a short time, just long enough for a small black slave boy of six years to meet and speak with General Houston. That young slave, Mose Chappel, later went on to become one of Moulton’s oldest and most unforgettable citizens.
No one knows exactly how the settlement actually got its name. One theory suggest that the community received its name from a native of Moulton, Alabama, who named it after his hometown. Another suggests that the community was named after E. L. Moulton, a pioneer settler. Yet another says the settlement was named after the small circular patches of oak trees called “motts” that abound the region. In 1887 the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad Company laid out a spur from Yoakum northward to Waco. Soon after the construction of the railroad, a depot was built on the west side of the tracks and was called Topeka. Soon the little depot became the economic center of the area. In 1887 the first business opened in Moulton was a general store owned by Ed Boehm with later additions that also housed a saloon, barber shop and the post office.
To handle the large influx of people arriving in the growing community during this period, the Samuel Moore family built the large 32-room Moore Hotel in 1888. The hotel operated until 1940 when it was demolished to make way for a new business, the Pundt’s Café that was later remodeled into the current Kloesel’s Steakhouse and Bar.
Geographically speaking, Moulton lies in the heart of South Central Texas along the border of the Post Oak Belt and Gulf Coastal Plains. Moulton straddles the East and West Forks of the Lavaca River with most of the acreage within the city limits perched atop a slight rise between these two streams. Farming became the area’s main commercial enterprise.
