Calhoun's Living Legend, Howard Hartzog, Dies at 67
Howard G. Hartzog, something of a living legend, died unexpectedly Saturday in a Marlin hospital where he had undergone surgery Tuesday morning.
Death came at 10:30 a.m. to the man who had served since 1951 as Calhoun County judge. He was 67.
Funeral services will be held Monday at 2 p.m. from the spectacular house by the sea which he built on Commerce Street in Port Lavaca, with the Rev. George Dettman officiating. Burial will be in Port Lavaca Cemetery tinder direction of Hendon Funeral Home.
The Hartzog family came to Port Lavaca first in 1912, and he returned there to live permanently in 1928. Since then, his personality and personal drive had played guiding role in just about every public undertaking as the city moved from a sleepy shrimping village to a bustling industrial port.
He had served as Chamber of Commerce secretary for a short time after 1928, and on the school board. He went to the Texas Legislature in 1933 from the old 69th District composed of Calhoun, Victoria and Goliad counties. He remained for seven terms, and stamped his signature as author on some of the state's most significant legislation of the period.
Hartzog wrote the bill authorizing county-wide school districts, of which Calhoun County became one of the first, the measure establishing the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority, the Seawalls Act, and the Certification of Title (car registration) Act.
In 1935, he married Anna Paul Allen of Marlin, who died last fall, and together they built the showplace house, starting with a three-room frame structure which had been built in 1901. Over the years they built a fire-place of rocks they picked up on trips from Austin, re-paneled the interior with two loads of "pecky" cypress from Louisiana which the judge accepted in lieu of a legal fee, furnished it with antique furniture brought to Texas by their respective families by riverboat and covered wagon, and added bedrooms at random as the family grew to include Howard Jr. and Martha Ann, their only two children.
It was never papered, because the judge liked to show off the pecky cypress, and he once told an interviewer "you can throw darts at the (livingroom) door without hurting anything, because we do." Leaving the legislature after 1947, Hartzog returned to Port Lavaca to enter private law but the urge to public service was too strong. He was elected county judge in 1951, and re-elected successively over all opposition. He was re-elected again in 1968 and had approximately two and a half years of his term remaining at the time of his death.
Next to his wife, whose "very mobile face" he had sculpted three times in white plaster, and politics, Hartzog loved football and history, and he knew both first hand. His father, Joseph O. Hartzog, came to Texas from Bayou Tash Louisiana, at the turn of the century to build a cotton gin at Tolosa. In the spring of 1903 the gin burned, and the family moved by covered wagon to Big Spring, but failing to recoup the family fortune there, Joseph Hartzog soon moved on to Caddo, Indian Territory.
In 1912, when Judge Hartzog was 11 years old, his father came to South Texas to build an electricity generating plant at Austwell, and shortly after moved to Port Lavaca where he became a partner in Port Lavaca Industrial Plant.
The firm operated the electric plant, a broom factory and three cotton gins, but as the judge recalled with characteristic directness, "he found out the capital stock hadn't been paid in, and he lost his shirt,"
But the family had come to Port Lavaca to stay, except for a brief sojourn at San Marcos. It was in the latter place that Judge Hartzog began a unique athletic career which included playing football for a high school, a college, two universities and two professional teams, but not in that order.
He played four years at San Marcos Academy, two more years at Southwest Texas Normal School (now state college,) and moved on to Baylor University where he eventually earned a bachelor of arts degree and two diamond studded gold footballs on the last two Baylor teams to win a Southwest Conference championship, in 1922 and 1924.
He was nominated for All-American "but didn't make the Grantland Rice team," and after graduation in 1928 he signed up with the Rock Island, Illinois, Independents, a professional grid team. When a hurricane forced cancellation of three games in a row on the East Coast, the team folded, and he moved to Washington, D. C. to meet a representative of the Buffalo professional team. He and his Texas companions decided to try out for the George Washington University team, and made it the same afternoon. A year and a half later, Hartzog took his law degree there.
Then for the second time he "turned pro to pay my debts," playing the 1928 season with the New York Giants, leaving them at Christmastime to return to Port Lavaca because of a stroke suffered by his mother.
Sandwiched among all this activity, Hartzog had served briefly as a committee clerk for Texas Senators Morris Shepherd and Tom Connally, and spent a summer seeing the Olympics and much of Europe.
Hartzog tried out for the Olympic team in swimming, diving and vaulting (over 12 feet) but failed to qualify. Then he decided to see the Olympics anyway, and signed on as a coal patcher on a freighter bound for Rotterdam.
Back in Part Lavaca he opened a law office "and signed an as a deckhand on a shrimp boat to make a living." But he had had his taste of polities in Washington and New York, where he was involved for a while with the Tammany Hall Organization, —and he was to pursue this career with gusto and success for the remainder of his life.
He liked to say that when he went to the legislature "I was a liberal, but Roosevelt changed all of that." Still, up to the time of his death he was one of the more tenacious promoters of programs, state and federal, which would bring more progress to Calhoun County and South Texas.
For years be had carried on a running battle with the U S Air Force to reclaim a 2,000 acre section of Matagorda Island for a state park, which would be reached via a causeway that would be an extension of highway 87 a cause-way that "which one day will be eight lanes all the way to El Paso."
Judge Hartzog was born April 11, 1901, at Tolosa in Kaufman County, the son of Joseph Orestes Hartzog and Sybil Gertrude Martin Hartzog. His mother was the daughter of "Howdy" Martin, who had served as major in Hood's Brigade, and later went to Congress.
Survivors in addition to the children include a brother, Carroll Hartzog, also of Port Lavaca.
• The Victoria Advocate, Sunday, May 19, 1968
For the bio:
Howard Gallemore Hartzog, Sr.
1901-1968
I. Context
In the mid-twentieth century, Calhoun County was beginning an unprecedented period of growth. Howard G. Hartzog, Sr. was an active community leader who guided Calhoun County as a private citizen, as county judge, and as a state representative by working diligently to promote county growth and pass laws that continue to benefit the area and the state.
II. Overview
Howard Gallemore Hartzog was born April 11, 1901 in Tolosa, Texas the son of J.O. and Sybil Hartzog. He graduated from San Marcos Academy, attended Southwest Texas Normal School (now Texas State University), obtained a B.A. Degree from Baylor University (1926), and a Law Degree from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. in 1928. After a season of professional football with the New York Giants, he returned to Port Lavaca to practice law. In 1935 he married Anna Paul Allen of Marlin, Texas. Howard and Anna had two children. Martha was born on March 8, 1940 and Howard (Howdy) Jr. on January 23, 1945. Howard and Anna continued as man and wife until her death in 1967.
In 1933, he was elected representative for the 69th district (then composed of Calhoun, Goliad, and Victoria counties). For fourteen years he actively contributed to writing bills. Among them were bills that encouraged the development of the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority and the authorization to establish county-wide school districts (of which Calhoun County was among the first). He sponsored the Seawalls Act which granted the building of numerous seawalls to help slow erosion and conserve coastal lands in Calhoun County and other coastal areas in Texas. He was also responsible for the certification of Title concerning automobile registration.
After he left the Texas House of Representatives in 1947, he served on the Calhoun County Independent School District Board of Trustees and served as the interim city attorney for the city of Port Lavaca.
In 1950, Howard Hartzog ran for County Judge, was elected, and was sworn in on January 1, 1951. Judge Hartzog served six consecutive terms in office, seventeen years, longer than any other person in Calhoun County history. It was a position he held for the rest of his life.
As county judge, he presided over the commissioner’s court. During his tenure, numerous projects were accomplished. A new courthouse was completed,5 a new Lavaca Bay causeway was built, and a new library was built. The county hospital underwent two major expansions. A new airport was constructed and opened to traffic, a new agriculture building was completed, and a new county fairgrounds was completed. Calhoun County became a leading county in the number of miles of Farm-to-Market roads per capita in the state because of the creation of new roads.
During his years as County Judge, there were weather-related challenges faced by the people of Calhoun County. In late June 1960, heavy rains dumped more than twenty-nine inches on the county in a matter of only three days. In his role as County Coordinator, Judge Hartzog led the recovery efforts. In September 1961, Hurricane Carla ravaged Calhoun County causing millions of dollars in damage to homes, crops, livestock, and roads. Once again, Judge Hartzog led the rebuilding efforts.
As County Judge, he regularly held court where he adjudicated hundreds of criminal, civil, and probate cases.
Another aspect of the County Judge’s office was his role as Ex-Officio County School Superintendent, a job which required considerable time.
Judge Hartzog was the last person to serve in that position. It was finally abolished at the end of 1966 its duties having been absorbed into the Calhoun County Independent School District.
In addition to his duties as County Judge, Howard Hartzog was instrumental in promoting the future economic well-being of his county. Community leaders wanted to expand industry in Calhoun County. The development of the Matagorda Ship Channel would allow that to occur by connecting Calhoun County to almost every port in the world. As Vice-President of the Mid-Coast Water Development Association, he was able to bring the ship channel to fruition in 1966.
Judge Hartzog was a member of the Masonic Lodge, the Rotary Club, the Chamber of Commerce, the Civic Theater, was a director of the Guadalupe River Watershed Development Association, and was vice chairman of the Gulf Coast area of the Economic Development Authority and the American Bar Association.
Judge Hartzog devoted his life to service and worked tirelessly to promote growth, well-being, and industry in the county. Howard G. Hartzog, Sr. died in Marlin, Texas on May 18, 1968 and is buried next to his wife in the Port Lavaca Cemetery.
III. Significance
Howard G. Hartzog, Sr. was a leading figure in Calhoun County from the 1930’s through the 1960’s. Through his ongoing efforts as County Judge, State Representative, charter member of the Mid-Coast Water Development Association, and private citizen, the positive results of his contributions to the community can still be felt today. As stated in House Simple Resolution Number 17, “…Judge Hartzog was something of a living legend, and his personality and drive were identified with just about every public undertaking as the city moved from a sleepy shrimping village to a bustling industrial port.”
IV. Documentation
1 Interview with Howard G. Hartzog, Jr. and Frances Wedig Hartzog on July 18, 2012
2 Calhoun County Historical Commission, Shifting Sands of Calhoun County, 1981, p.169-170
3 House Simple Resolution, Number 17, 60th Legislature June 12, 1968.
4 H.S.R. #17 1968
5 Port Lavaca Wave, July 1,1959 p.1
6 Calhoun County Times, May 1, 1962
7 Houston Post, June 28, 1960, p. 1-A
8 Minutes County Court, vol. C; Minutes County Court Vol. E; Probate Record, vol. Q.
9 Victoria Advocate, February 28, 1963
10 Water Development (Official Publication of Texas Mid-Coast Water Development Association), vol. 5, No.1, Spring 1961
11 Victoria Advocate, July 29, 1966
12 Victoria Advocate, May 19, 1968, p. 1-A
13 H.S.R. #17, 1968
ADDITIONAL SOURCES
Legislative Reference Library Of Texas
Lyndon Baines Johnson Library, Austin, Texas: Correspondence between Judge Hartzog and Senator Lyndon B. Johnson from 1955-1959.
Calhoun County Commissioner’s Court Minutes Vol. I, J, K, L, M.
Howard G. Hartzog, something of a living legend, died unexpectedly Saturday in a Marlin hospital where he had undergone surgery Tuesday morning.
Death came at 10:30 a.m. to the man who had served since 1951 as Calhoun County judge. He was 67.
Funeral services will be held Monday at 2 p.m. from the spectacular house by the sea which he built on Commerce Street in Port Lavaca, with the Rev. George Dettman officiating. Burial will be in Port Lavaca Cemetery tinder direction of Hendon Funeral Home.
The Hartzog family came to Port Lavaca first in 1912, and he returned there to live permanently in 1928. Since then, his personality and personal drive had played guiding role in just about every public undertaking as the city moved from a sleepy shrimping village to a bustling industrial port.
He had served as Chamber of Commerce secretary for a short time after 1928, and on the school board. He went to the Texas Legislature in 1933 from the old 69th District composed of Calhoun, Victoria and Goliad counties. He remained for seven terms, and stamped his signature as author on some of the state's most significant legislation of the period.
Hartzog wrote the bill authorizing county-wide school districts, of which Calhoun County became one of the first, the measure establishing the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority, the Seawalls Act, and the Certification of Title (car registration) Act.
In 1935, he married Anna Paul Allen of Marlin, who died last fall, and together they built the showplace house, starting with a three-room frame structure which had been built in 1901. Over the years they built a fire-place of rocks they picked up on trips from Austin, re-paneled the interior with two loads of "pecky" cypress from Louisiana which the judge accepted in lieu of a legal fee, furnished it with antique furniture brought to Texas by their respective families by riverboat and covered wagon, and added bedrooms at random as the family grew to include Howard Jr. and Martha Ann, their only two children.
It was never papered, because the judge liked to show off the pecky cypress, and he once told an interviewer "you can throw darts at the (livingroom) door without hurting anything, because we do." Leaving the legislature after 1947, Hartzog returned to Port Lavaca to enter private law but the urge to public service was too strong. He was elected county judge in 1951, and re-elected successively over all opposition. He was re-elected again in 1968 and had approximately two and a half years of his term remaining at the time of his death.
Next to his wife, whose "very mobile face" he had sculpted three times in white plaster, and politics, Hartzog loved football and history, and he knew both first hand. His father, Joseph O. Hartzog, came to Texas from Bayou Tash Louisiana, at the turn of the century to build a cotton gin at Tolosa. In the spring of 1903 the gin burned, and the family moved by covered wagon to Big Spring, but failing to recoup the family fortune there, Joseph Hartzog soon moved on to Caddo, Indian Territory.
In 1912, when Judge Hartzog was 11 years old, his father came to South Texas to build an electricity generating plant at Austwell, and shortly after moved to Port Lavaca where he became a partner in Port Lavaca Industrial Plant.
The firm operated the electric plant, a broom factory and three cotton gins, but as the judge recalled with characteristic directness, "he found out the capital stock hadn't been paid in, and he lost his shirt,"
But the family had come to Port Lavaca to stay, except for a brief sojourn at San Marcos. It was in the latter place that Judge Hartzog began a unique athletic career which included playing football for a high school, a college, two universities and two professional teams, but not in that order.
He played four years at San Marcos Academy, two more years at Southwest Texas Normal School (now state college,) and moved on to Baylor University where he eventually earned a bachelor of arts degree and two diamond studded gold footballs on the last two Baylor teams to win a Southwest Conference championship, in 1922 and 1924.
He was nominated for All-American "but didn't make the Grantland Rice team," and after graduation in 1928 he signed up with the Rock Island, Illinois, Independents, a professional grid team. When a hurricane forced cancellation of three games in a row on the East Coast, the team folded, and he moved to Washington, D. C. to meet a representative of the Buffalo professional team. He and his Texas companions decided to try out for the George Washington University team, and made it the same afternoon. A year and a half later, Hartzog took his law degree there.
Then for the second time he "turned pro to pay my debts," playing the 1928 season with the New York Giants, leaving them at Christmastime to return to Port Lavaca because of a stroke suffered by his mother.
Sandwiched among all this activity, Hartzog had served briefly as a committee clerk for Texas Senators Morris Shepherd and Tom Connally, and spent a summer seeing the Olympics and much of Europe.
Hartzog tried out for the Olympic team in swimming, diving and vaulting (over 12 feet) but failed to qualify. Then he decided to see the Olympics anyway, and signed on as a coal patcher on a freighter bound for Rotterdam.
Back in Part Lavaca he opened a law office "and signed an as a deckhand on a shrimp boat to make a living." But he had had his taste of polities in Washington and New York, where he was involved for a while with the Tammany Hall Organization, —and he was to pursue this career with gusto and success for the remainder of his life.
He liked to say that when he went to the legislature "I was a liberal, but Roosevelt changed all of that." Still, up to the time of his death he was one of the more tenacious promoters of programs, state and federal, which would bring more progress to Calhoun County and South Texas.
For years be had carried on a running battle with the U S Air Force to reclaim a 2,000 acre section of Matagorda Island for a state park, which would be reached via a causeway that would be an extension of highway 87 a cause-way that "which one day will be eight lanes all the way to El Paso."
Judge Hartzog was born April 11, 1901, at Tolosa in Kaufman County, the son of Joseph Orestes Hartzog and Sybil Gertrude Martin Hartzog. His mother was the daughter of "Howdy" Martin, who had served as major in Hood's Brigade, and later went to Congress.
Survivors in addition to the children include a brother, Carroll Hartzog, also of Port Lavaca.
• The Victoria Advocate, Sunday, May 19, 1968
For the bio:
Howard Gallemore Hartzog, Sr.
1901-1968
I. Context
In the mid-twentieth century, Calhoun County was beginning an unprecedented period of growth. Howard G. Hartzog, Sr. was an active community leader who guided Calhoun County as a private citizen, as county judge, and as a state representative by working diligently to promote county growth and pass laws that continue to benefit the area and the state.
II. Overview
Howard Gallemore Hartzog was born April 11, 1901 in Tolosa, Texas the son of J.O. and Sybil Hartzog. He graduated from San Marcos Academy, attended Southwest Texas Normal School (now Texas State University), obtained a B.A. Degree from Baylor University (1926), and a Law Degree from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. in 1928. After a season of professional football with the New York Giants, he returned to Port Lavaca to practice law. In 1935 he married Anna Paul Allen of Marlin, Texas. Howard and Anna had two children. Martha was born on March 8, 1940 and Howard (Howdy) Jr. on January 23, 1945. Howard and Anna continued as man and wife until her death in 1967.
In 1933, he was elected representative for the 69th district (then composed of Calhoun, Goliad, and Victoria counties). For fourteen years he actively contributed to writing bills. Among them were bills that encouraged the development of the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority and the authorization to establish county-wide school districts (of which Calhoun County was among the first). He sponsored the Seawalls Act which granted the building of numerous seawalls to help slow erosion and conserve coastal lands in Calhoun County and other coastal areas in Texas. He was also responsible for the certification of Title concerning automobile registration.
After he left the Texas House of Representatives in 1947, he served on the Calhoun County Independent School District Board of Trustees and served as the interim city attorney for the city of Port Lavaca.
In 1950, Howard Hartzog ran for County Judge, was elected, and was sworn in on January 1, 1951. Judge Hartzog served six consecutive terms in office, seventeen years, longer than any other person in Calhoun County history. It was a position he held for the rest of his life.
As county judge, he presided over the commissioner’s court. During his tenure, numerous projects were accomplished. A new courthouse was completed,5 a new Lavaca Bay causeway was built, and a new library was built. The county hospital underwent two major expansions. A new airport was constructed and opened to traffic, a new agriculture building was completed, and a new county fairgrounds was completed. Calhoun County became a leading county in the number of miles of Farm-to-Market roads per capita in the state because of the creation of new roads.
During his years as County Judge, there were weather-related challenges faced by the people of Calhoun County. In late June 1960, heavy rains dumped more than twenty-nine inches on the county in a matter of only three days. In his role as County Coordinator, Judge Hartzog led the recovery efforts. In September 1961, Hurricane Carla ravaged Calhoun County causing millions of dollars in damage to homes, crops, livestock, and roads. Once again, Judge Hartzog led the rebuilding efforts.
As County Judge, he regularly held court where he adjudicated hundreds of criminal, civil, and probate cases.
Another aspect of the County Judge’s office was his role as Ex-Officio County School Superintendent, a job which required considerable time.
Judge Hartzog was the last person to serve in that position. It was finally abolished at the end of 1966 its duties having been absorbed into the Calhoun County Independent School District.
In addition to his duties as County Judge, Howard Hartzog was instrumental in promoting the future economic well-being of his county. Community leaders wanted to expand industry in Calhoun County. The development of the Matagorda Ship Channel would allow that to occur by connecting Calhoun County to almost every port in the world. As Vice-President of the Mid-Coast Water Development Association, he was able to bring the ship channel to fruition in 1966.
Judge Hartzog was a member of the Masonic Lodge, the Rotary Club, the Chamber of Commerce, the Civic Theater, was a director of the Guadalupe River Watershed Development Association, and was vice chairman of the Gulf Coast area of the Economic Development Authority and the American Bar Association.
Judge Hartzog devoted his life to service and worked tirelessly to promote growth, well-being, and industry in the county. Howard G. Hartzog, Sr. died in Marlin, Texas on May 18, 1968 and is buried next to his wife in the Port Lavaca Cemetery.
III. Significance
Howard G. Hartzog, Sr. was a leading figure in Calhoun County from the 1930’s through the 1960’s. Through his ongoing efforts as County Judge, State Representative, charter member of the Mid-Coast Water Development Association, and private citizen, the positive results of his contributions to the community can still be felt today. As stated in House Simple Resolution Number 17, “…Judge Hartzog was something of a living legend, and his personality and drive were identified with just about every public undertaking as the city moved from a sleepy shrimping village to a bustling industrial port.”
IV. Documentation
1 Interview with Howard G. Hartzog, Jr. and Frances Wedig Hartzog on July 18, 2012
2 Calhoun County Historical Commission, Shifting Sands of Calhoun County, 1981, p.169-170
3 House Simple Resolution, Number 17, 60th Legislature June 12, 1968.
4 H.S.R. #17 1968
5 Port Lavaca Wave, July 1,1959 p.1
6 Calhoun County Times, May 1, 1962
7 Houston Post, June 28, 1960, p. 1-A
8 Minutes County Court, vol. C; Minutes County Court Vol. E; Probate Record, vol. Q.
9 Victoria Advocate, February 28, 1963
10 Water Development (Official Publication of Texas Mid-Coast Water Development Association), vol. 5, No.1, Spring 1961
11 Victoria Advocate, July 29, 1966
12 Victoria Advocate, May 19, 1968, p. 1-A
13 H.S.R. #17, 1968
ADDITIONAL SOURCES
Legislative Reference Library Of Texas
Lyndon Baines Johnson Library, Austin, Texas: Correspondence between Judge Hartzog and Senator Lyndon B. Johnson from 1955-1959.
Calhoun County Commissioner’s Court Minutes Vol. I, J, K, L, M.
Calhoun's Living Legend, Howard Hartzog, Dies at 67
Howard G. Hartzog, something of a living legend, died unexpectedly Saturday in a Marlin hospital where he had undergone surgery Tuesday morning.
Death came at 10:30 a.m. to the man who had served since 1951 as Calhoun County judge. He was 67.
Funeral services will be held Monday at 2 p.m. from the spectacular house by the sea which he built on Commerce Street in Port Lavaca, with the Rev. George Dettman officiating. Burial will be in Port Lavaca Cemetery tinder direction of Hendon Funeral Home.
The Hartzog family came to Port Lavaca first in 1912, and he returned there to live permanently in 1928. Since then, his personality and personal drive had played guiding role in just about every public undertaking as the city moved from a sleepy shrimping village to a bustling industrial port.
He had served as Chamber of Commerce secretary for a short time after 1928, and on the school board. He went to the Texas Legislature in 1933 from the old 69th District composed of Calhoun, Victoria and Goliad counties. He remained for seven terms, and stamped his signature as author on some of the state's most significant legislation of the period.
Hartzog wrote the bill authorizing county-wide school districts, of which Calhoun County became one of the first, the measure establishing the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority, the Seawalls Act, and the Certification of Title (car registration) Act.
In 1935, he married Anna Paul Allen of Marlin, who died last fall, and together they built the showplace house, starting with a three-room frame structure which had been built in 1901. Over the years they built a fire-place of rocks they picked up on trips from Austin, re-paneled the interior with two loads of "pecky" cypress from Louisiana which the judge accepted in lieu of a legal fee, furnished it with antique furniture brought to Texas by their respective families by riverboat and covered wagon, and added bedrooms at random as the family grew to include Howard Jr. and Martha Ann, their only two children.
It was never papered, because the judge liked to show off the pecky cypress, and he once told an interviewer "you can throw darts at the (livingroom) door without hurting anything, because we do." Leaving the legislature after 1947, Hartzog returned to Port Lavaca to enter private law but the urge to public service was too strong. He was elected county judge in 1951, and re-elected successively over all opposition. He was re-elected again in 1968 and had approximately two and a half years of his term remaining at the time of his death.
Next to his wife, whose "very mobile face" he had sculpted three times in white plaster, and politics, Hartzog loved football and history, and he knew both first hand. His father, Joseph O. Hartzog, came to Texas from Bayou Tash Louisiana, at the turn of the century to build a cotton gin at Tolosa. In the spring of 1903 the gin burned, and the family moved by covered wagon to Big Spring, but failing to recoup the family fortune there, Joseph Hartzog soon moved on to Caddo, Indian Territory.
In 1912, when Judge Hartzog was 11 years old, his father came to South Texas to build an electricity generating plant at Austwell, and shortly after moved to Port Lavaca where he became a partner in Port Lavaca Industrial Plant.
The firm operated the electric plant, a broom factory and three cotton gins, but as the judge recalled with characteristic directness, "he found out the capital stock hadn't been paid in, and he lost his shirt,"
But the family had come to Port Lavaca to stay, except for a brief sojourn at San Marcos. It was in the latter place that Judge Hartzog began a unique athletic career which included playing football for a high school, a college, two universities and two professional teams, but not in that order.
He played four years at San Marcos Academy, two more years at Southwest Texas Normal School (now state college,) and moved on to Baylor University where he eventually earned a bachelor of arts degree and two diamond studded gold footballs on the last two Baylor teams to win a Southwest Conference championship, in 1922 and 1924.
He was nominated for All-American "but didn't make the Grantland Rice team," and after graduation in 1928 he signed up with the Rock Island, Illinois, Independents, a professional grid team. When a hurricane forced cancellation of three games in a row on the East Coast, the team folded, and he moved to Washington, D. C. to meet a representative of the Buffalo professional team. He and his Texas companions decided to try out for the George Washington University team, and made it the same afternoon. A year and a half later, Hartzog took his law degree there.
Then for the second time he "turned pro to pay my debts," playing the 1928 season with the New York Giants, leaving them at Christmastime to return to Port Lavaca because of a stroke suffered by his mother.
Sandwiched among all this activity, Hartzog had served briefly as a committee clerk for Texas Senators Morris Shepherd and Tom Connally, and spent a summer seeing the Olympics and much of Europe.
Hartzog tried out for the Olympic team in swimming, diving and vaulting (over 12 feet) but failed to qualify. Then he decided to see the Olympics anyway, and signed on as a coal patcher on a freighter bound for Rotterdam.
Back in Part Lavaca he opened a law office "and signed an as a deckhand on a shrimp boat to make a living." But he had had his taste of polities in Washington and New York, where he was involved for a while with the Tammany Hall Organization, —and he was to pursue this career with gusto and success for the remainder of his life.
He liked to say that when he went to the legislature "I was a liberal, but Roosevelt changed all of that." Still, up to the time of his death he was one of the more tenacious promoters of programs, state and federal, which would bring more progress to Calhoun County and South Texas.
For years be had carried on a running battle with the U S Air Force to reclaim a 2,000 acre section of Matagorda Island for a state park, which would be reached via a causeway that would be an extension of highway 87 a cause-way that "which one day will be eight lanes all the way to El Paso."
Judge Hartzog was born April 11, 1901, at Tolosa in Kaufman County, the son of Joseph Orestes Hartzog and Sybil Gertrude Martin Hartzog. His mother was the daughter of "Howdy" Martin, who had served as major in Hood's Brigade, and later went to Congress.
Survivors in addition to the children include a brother, Carroll Hartzog, also of Port Lavaca.
• The Victoria Advocate, Sunday, May 19, 1968
For the bio:
Howard Gallemore Hartzog, Sr.
1901-1968
I. Context
In the mid-twentieth century, Calhoun County was beginning an unprecedented period of growth. Howard G. Hartzog, Sr. was an active community leader who guided Calhoun County as a private citizen, as county judge, and as a state representative by working diligently to promote county growth and pass laws that continue to benefit the area and the state.
II. Overview
Howard Gallemore Hartzog was born April 11, 1901 in Tolosa, Texas the son of J.O. and Sybil Hartzog. He graduated from San Marcos Academy, attended Southwest Texas Normal School (now Texas State University), obtained a B.A. Degree from Baylor University (1926), and a Law Degree from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. in 1928. After a season of professional football with the New York Giants, he returned to Port Lavaca to practice law. In 1935 he married Anna Paul Allen of Marlin, Texas. Howard and Anna had two children. Martha was born on March 8, 1940 and Howard (Howdy) Jr. on January 23, 1945. Howard and Anna continued as man and wife until her death in 1967.
In 1933, he was elected representative for the 69th district (then composed of Calhoun, Goliad, and Victoria counties). For fourteen years he actively contributed to writing bills. Among them were bills that encouraged the development of the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority and the authorization to establish county-wide school districts (of which Calhoun County was among the first). He sponsored the Seawalls Act which granted the building of numerous seawalls to help slow erosion and conserve coastal lands in Calhoun County and other coastal areas in Texas. He was also responsible for the certification of Title concerning automobile registration.
After he left the Texas House of Representatives in 1947, he served on the Calhoun County Independent School District Board of Trustees and served as the interim city attorney for the city of Port Lavaca.
In 1950, Howard Hartzog ran for County Judge, was elected, and was sworn in on January 1, 1951. Judge Hartzog served six consecutive terms in office, seventeen years, longer than any other person in Calhoun County history. It was a position he held for the rest of his life.
As county judge, he presided over the commissioner’s court. During his tenure, numerous projects were accomplished. A new courthouse was completed,5 a new Lavaca Bay causeway was built, and a new library was built. The county hospital underwent two major expansions. A new airport was constructed and opened to traffic, a new agriculture building was completed, and a new county fairgrounds was completed. Calhoun County became a leading county in the number of miles of Farm-to-Market roads per capita in the state because of the creation of new roads.
During his years as County Judge, there were weather-related challenges faced by the people of Calhoun County. In late June 1960, heavy rains dumped more than twenty-nine inches on the county in a matter of only three days. In his role as County Coordinator, Judge Hartzog led the recovery efforts. In September 1961, Hurricane Carla ravaged Calhoun County causing millions of dollars in damage to homes, crops, livestock, and roads. Once again, Judge Hartzog led the rebuilding efforts.
As County Judge, he regularly held court where he adjudicated hundreds of criminal, civil, and probate cases.
Another aspect of the County Judge’s office was his role as Ex-Officio County School Superintendent, a job which required considerable time.
Judge Hartzog was the last person to serve in that position. It was finally abolished at the end of 1966 its duties having been absorbed into the Calhoun County Independent School District.
In addition to his duties as County Judge, Howard Hartzog was instrumental in promoting the future economic well-being of his county. Community leaders wanted to expand industry in Calhoun County. The development of the Matagorda Ship Channel would allow that to occur by connecting Calhoun County to almost every port in the world. As Vice-President of the Mid-Coast Water Development Association, he was able to bring the ship channel to fruition in 1966.
Judge Hartzog was a member of the Masonic Lodge, the Rotary Club, the Chamber of Commerce, the Civic Theater, was a director of the Guadalupe River Watershed Development Association, and was vice chairman of the Gulf Coast area of the Economic Development Authority and the American Bar Association.
Judge Hartzog devoted his life to service and worked tirelessly to promote growth, well-being, and industry in the county. Howard G. Hartzog, Sr. died in Marlin, Texas on May 18, 1968 and is buried next to his wife in the Port Lavaca Cemetery.
III. Significance
Howard G. Hartzog, Sr. was a leading figure in Calhoun County from the 1930’s through the 1960’s. Through his ongoing efforts as County Judge, State Representative, charter member of the Mid-Coast Water Development Association, and private citizen, the positive results of his contributions to the community can still be felt today. As stated in House Simple Resolution Number 17, “…Judge Hartzog was something of a living legend, and his personality and drive were identified with just about every public undertaking as the city moved from a sleepy shrimping village to a bustling industrial port.”
IV. Documentation
1 Interview with Howard G. Hartzog, Jr. and Frances Wedig Hartzog on July 18, 2012
2 Calhoun County Historical Commission, Shifting Sands of Calhoun County, 1981, p.169-170
3 House Simple Resolution, Number 17, 60th Legislature June 12, 1968.
4 H.S.R. #17 1968
5 Port Lavaca Wave, July 1,1959 p.1
6 Calhoun County Times, May 1, 1962
7 Houston Post, June 28, 1960, p. 1-A
8 Minutes County Court, vol. C; Minutes County Court Vol. E; Probate Record, vol. Q.
9 Victoria Advocate, February 28, 1963
10 Water Development (Official Publication of Texas Mid-Coast Water Development Association), vol. 5, No.1, Spring 1961
11 Victoria Advocate, July 29, 1966
12 Victoria Advocate, May 19, 1968, p. 1-A
13 H.S.R. #17, 1968
ADDITIONAL SOURCES
Legislative Reference Library Of Texas
Lyndon Baines Johnson Library, Austin, Texas: Correspondence between Judge Hartzog and Senator Lyndon B. Johnson from 1955-1959.
Calhoun County Commissioner’s Court Minutes Vol. I, J, K, L, M.
Howard G. Hartzog, something of a living legend, died unexpectedly Saturday in a Marlin hospital where he had undergone surgery Tuesday morning.
Death came at 10:30 a.m. to the man who had served since 1951 as Calhoun County judge. He was 67.
Funeral services will be held Monday at 2 p.m. from the spectacular house by the sea which he built on Commerce Street in Port Lavaca, with the Rev. George Dettman officiating. Burial will be in Port Lavaca Cemetery tinder direction of Hendon Funeral Home.
The Hartzog family came to Port Lavaca first in 1912, and he returned there to live permanently in 1928. Since then, his personality and personal drive had played guiding role in just about every public undertaking as the city moved from a sleepy shrimping village to a bustling industrial port.
He had served as Chamber of Commerce secretary for a short time after 1928, and on the school board. He went to the Texas Legislature in 1933 from the old 69th District composed of Calhoun, Victoria and Goliad counties. He remained for seven terms, and stamped his signature as author on some of the state's most significant legislation of the period.
Hartzog wrote the bill authorizing county-wide school districts, of which Calhoun County became one of the first, the measure establishing the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority, the Seawalls Act, and the Certification of Title (car registration) Act.
In 1935, he married Anna Paul Allen of Marlin, who died last fall, and together they built the showplace house, starting with a three-room frame structure which had been built in 1901. Over the years they built a fire-place of rocks they picked up on trips from Austin, re-paneled the interior with two loads of "pecky" cypress from Louisiana which the judge accepted in lieu of a legal fee, furnished it with antique furniture brought to Texas by their respective families by riverboat and covered wagon, and added bedrooms at random as the family grew to include Howard Jr. and Martha Ann, their only two children.
It was never papered, because the judge liked to show off the pecky cypress, and he once told an interviewer "you can throw darts at the (livingroom) door without hurting anything, because we do." Leaving the legislature after 1947, Hartzog returned to Port Lavaca to enter private law but the urge to public service was too strong. He was elected county judge in 1951, and re-elected successively over all opposition. He was re-elected again in 1968 and had approximately two and a half years of his term remaining at the time of his death.
Next to his wife, whose "very mobile face" he had sculpted three times in white plaster, and politics, Hartzog loved football and history, and he knew both first hand. His father, Joseph O. Hartzog, came to Texas from Bayou Tash Louisiana, at the turn of the century to build a cotton gin at Tolosa. In the spring of 1903 the gin burned, and the family moved by covered wagon to Big Spring, but failing to recoup the family fortune there, Joseph Hartzog soon moved on to Caddo, Indian Territory.
In 1912, when Judge Hartzog was 11 years old, his father came to South Texas to build an electricity generating plant at Austwell, and shortly after moved to Port Lavaca where he became a partner in Port Lavaca Industrial Plant.
The firm operated the electric plant, a broom factory and three cotton gins, but as the judge recalled with characteristic directness, "he found out the capital stock hadn't been paid in, and he lost his shirt,"
But the family had come to Port Lavaca to stay, except for a brief sojourn at San Marcos. It was in the latter place that Judge Hartzog began a unique athletic career which included playing football for a high school, a college, two universities and two professional teams, but not in that order.
He played four years at San Marcos Academy, two more years at Southwest Texas Normal School (now state college,) and moved on to Baylor University where he eventually earned a bachelor of arts degree and two diamond studded gold footballs on the last two Baylor teams to win a Southwest Conference championship, in 1922 and 1924.
He was nominated for All-American "but didn't make the Grantland Rice team," and after graduation in 1928 he signed up with the Rock Island, Illinois, Independents, a professional grid team. When a hurricane forced cancellation of three games in a row on the East Coast, the team folded, and he moved to Washington, D. C. to meet a representative of the Buffalo professional team. He and his Texas companions decided to try out for the George Washington University team, and made it the same afternoon. A year and a half later, Hartzog took his law degree there.
Then for the second time he "turned pro to pay my debts," playing the 1928 season with the New York Giants, leaving them at Christmastime to return to Port Lavaca because of a stroke suffered by his mother.
Sandwiched among all this activity, Hartzog had served briefly as a committee clerk for Texas Senators Morris Shepherd and Tom Connally, and spent a summer seeing the Olympics and much of Europe.
Hartzog tried out for the Olympic team in swimming, diving and vaulting (over 12 feet) but failed to qualify. Then he decided to see the Olympics anyway, and signed on as a coal patcher on a freighter bound for Rotterdam.
Back in Part Lavaca he opened a law office "and signed an as a deckhand on a shrimp boat to make a living." But he had had his taste of polities in Washington and New York, where he was involved for a while with the Tammany Hall Organization, —and he was to pursue this career with gusto and success for the remainder of his life.
He liked to say that when he went to the legislature "I was a liberal, but Roosevelt changed all of that." Still, up to the time of his death he was one of the more tenacious promoters of programs, state and federal, which would bring more progress to Calhoun County and South Texas.
For years be had carried on a running battle with the U S Air Force to reclaim a 2,000 acre section of Matagorda Island for a state park, which would be reached via a causeway that would be an extension of highway 87 a cause-way that "which one day will be eight lanes all the way to El Paso."
Judge Hartzog was born April 11, 1901, at Tolosa in Kaufman County, the son of Joseph Orestes Hartzog and Sybil Gertrude Martin Hartzog. His mother was the daughter of "Howdy" Martin, who had served as major in Hood's Brigade, and later went to Congress.
Survivors in addition to the children include a brother, Carroll Hartzog, also of Port Lavaca.
• The Victoria Advocate, Sunday, May 19, 1968
For the bio:
Howard Gallemore Hartzog, Sr.
1901-1968
I. Context
In the mid-twentieth century, Calhoun County was beginning an unprecedented period of growth. Howard G. Hartzog, Sr. was an active community leader who guided Calhoun County as a private citizen, as county judge, and as a state representative by working diligently to promote county growth and pass laws that continue to benefit the area and the state.
II. Overview
Howard Gallemore Hartzog was born April 11, 1901 in Tolosa, Texas the son of J.O. and Sybil Hartzog. He graduated from San Marcos Academy, attended Southwest Texas Normal School (now Texas State University), obtained a B.A. Degree from Baylor University (1926), and a Law Degree from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. in 1928. After a season of professional football with the New York Giants, he returned to Port Lavaca to practice law. In 1935 he married Anna Paul Allen of Marlin, Texas. Howard and Anna had two children. Martha was born on March 8, 1940 and Howard (Howdy) Jr. on January 23, 1945. Howard and Anna continued as man and wife until her death in 1967.
In 1933, he was elected representative for the 69th district (then composed of Calhoun, Goliad, and Victoria counties). For fourteen years he actively contributed to writing bills. Among them were bills that encouraged the development of the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority and the authorization to establish county-wide school districts (of which Calhoun County was among the first). He sponsored the Seawalls Act which granted the building of numerous seawalls to help slow erosion and conserve coastal lands in Calhoun County and other coastal areas in Texas. He was also responsible for the certification of Title concerning automobile registration.
After he left the Texas House of Representatives in 1947, he served on the Calhoun County Independent School District Board of Trustees and served as the interim city attorney for the city of Port Lavaca.
In 1950, Howard Hartzog ran for County Judge, was elected, and was sworn in on January 1, 1951. Judge Hartzog served six consecutive terms in office, seventeen years, longer than any other person in Calhoun County history. It was a position he held for the rest of his life.
As county judge, he presided over the commissioner’s court. During his tenure, numerous projects were accomplished. A new courthouse was completed,5 a new Lavaca Bay causeway was built, and a new library was built. The county hospital underwent two major expansions. A new airport was constructed and opened to traffic, a new agriculture building was completed, and a new county fairgrounds was completed. Calhoun County became a leading county in the number of miles of Farm-to-Market roads per capita in the state because of the creation of new roads.
During his years as County Judge, there were weather-related challenges faced by the people of Calhoun County. In late June 1960, heavy rains dumped more than twenty-nine inches on the county in a matter of only three days. In his role as County Coordinator, Judge Hartzog led the recovery efforts. In September 1961, Hurricane Carla ravaged Calhoun County causing millions of dollars in damage to homes, crops, livestock, and roads. Once again, Judge Hartzog led the rebuilding efforts.
As County Judge, he regularly held court where he adjudicated hundreds of criminal, civil, and probate cases.
Another aspect of the County Judge’s office was his role as Ex-Officio County School Superintendent, a job which required considerable time.
Judge Hartzog was the last person to serve in that position. It was finally abolished at the end of 1966 its duties having been absorbed into the Calhoun County Independent School District.
In addition to his duties as County Judge, Howard Hartzog was instrumental in promoting the future economic well-being of his county. Community leaders wanted to expand industry in Calhoun County. The development of the Matagorda Ship Channel would allow that to occur by connecting Calhoun County to almost every port in the world. As Vice-President of the Mid-Coast Water Development Association, he was able to bring the ship channel to fruition in 1966.
Judge Hartzog was a member of the Masonic Lodge, the Rotary Club, the Chamber of Commerce, the Civic Theater, was a director of the Guadalupe River Watershed Development Association, and was vice chairman of the Gulf Coast area of the Economic Development Authority and the American Bar Association.
Judge Hartzog devoted his life to service and worked tirelessly to promote growth, well-being, and industry in the county. Howard G. Hartzog, Sr. died in Marlin, Texas on May 18, 1968 and is buried next to his wife in the Port Lavaca Cemetery.
III. Significance
Howard G. Hartzog, Sr. was a leading figure in Calhoun County from the 1930’s through the 1960’s. Through his ongoing efforts as County Judge, State Representative, charter member of the Mid-Coast Water Development Association, and private citizen, the positive results of his contributions to the community can still be felt today. As stated in House Simple Resolution Number 17, “…Judge Hartzog was something of a living legend, and his personality and drive were identified with just about every public undertaking as the city moved from a sleepy shrimping village to a bustling industrial port.”
IV. Documentation
1 Interview with Howard G. Hartzog, Jr. and Frances Wedig Hartzog on July 18, 2012
2 Calhoun County Historical Commission, Shifting Sands of Calhoun County, 1981, p.169-170
3 House Simple Resolution, Number 17, 60th Legislature June 12, 1968.
4 H.S.R. #17 1968
5 Port Lavaca Wave, July 1,1959 p.1
6 Calhoun County Times, May 1, 1962
7 Houston Post, June 28, 1960, p. 1-A
8 Minutes County Court, vol. C; Minutes County Court Vol. E; Probate Record, vol. Q.
9 Victoria Advocate, February 28, 1963
10 Water Development (Official Publication of Texas Mid-Coast Water Development Association), vol. 5, No.1, Spring 1961
11 Victoria Advocate, July 29, 1966
12 Victoria Advocate, May 19, 1968, p. 1-A
13 H.S.R. #17, 1968
ADDITIONAL SOURCES
Legislative Reference Library Of Texas
Lyndon Baines Johnson Library, Austin, Texas: Correspondence between Judge Hartzog and Senator Lyndon B. Johnson from 1955-1959.
Calhoun County Commissioner’s Court Minutes Vol. I, J, K, L, M.
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