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Welcome Onalaska, Texas, located on a peninsula extending into Lake Livingston, 13 miles west of Livingston and 28 miles east of Huntsville on US Highway 190, is nestled in a very picturesque setting surrounded by Lake Livingston and the Piney Woods in all directions. Located only 80 miles
north of Houston, the Onalaska area offers wilderness and recreational
activities that provide fun for all ages. The visitor or resident will
find a great selection of campgrounds, RV parks, marinas, and golf courses.
A new addition to the area is Livingston's
3rd Monday Trade Days - over 400 booths and two covered pavilions
on 200 acres in a park-type atmosphere. All ages will enjoy a visit
to the Alabama
Coushatta Indian Reservation, and our new County
Museum.
In 1904 William Carlisle, a resident of Onalaska, Wisconsin, came to Texas and built a sawmill. He named the town that developed with it Onalaska. The Carlisle Company had already established sawmills in Wisconsin and Arkansas, and William also named the Arkansas town Onalaska. Later the Carlisle Company founded and established the mill town of Onalaska, Washington.
History
With the sawmill, Onalaska then became a boom town and was even larger than the nearby county seat of Livingston. The town had two hotels, a movie theater, a large park, a hospital, a large downtown which included many stores, a cold storage plant, its own electrical plant, a bank, a railroad depot, and a large general store where you could purchase almost anything. The town's primary claim to fame was the largest sawmill in Texas. However, when the forest was depleted in the mid 1920's the sawmill closed. The loggers moved on and Onalaska shrank to a "sleepy little East Texas village". There are restored pictures of the original community hanging in the city hall council meeting room which can be seen Monday though Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Onalaska Today
The immediate area now has a population of approximately 4,000 permanent residents, with weekend visitors often pushing that number to 10,000 or more. The Onalaska area, because of its location at the heart of Lake Livingston, has become a popular vacation and retirement community, and despite its growth, still retains a village quality and country atmosphere. The Onalaska area has many types of accommodations, including motels, camping, and RV parks, and with our mild winter climate, all cater to Winter Texans. Walk into any shop or marina and you will more than likely be greeted with a friendliness that will make you feel right at home. Visitors, weekenders or residents are welcome to participate in our churches, schools, civic associations, senior citizens groups and the good life of a warm and caring East Texas community.
Lake Livingston Lake Livingston, the second largest lake completely in Texas, covers more than 90,000 acres and has more than 450 miles of shoreline. Normal water level is 131 feet above sea level. The dam stretches over 2.5 miles with an average water depth at the dam of 41 feet.
The lake is owned by the Trinity River Authority and was built as a joint project between TRA and the City of Houston. Today, Houston owns 70 percent of the water rights in the lake with TRA retaining control of the remaining 30 percent. All operations, functions and activities of the lake are controlled by TRA. Lake Livingston's shoreline, which curves into many tiny bays, creeks and protected coves for some 450 miles. Over 400 of these miles are within 20 minutes of the City of Onalaska. |
The
name Onalaska came from the poem, The Pleasure of Hope,
by Thomas Campbell, published in 1799. Onalaska, Wisconsin was founded
by Thomas G. Rowe from New York in 1851. He liked the line from the
poem The wolf's long howl from Oonalaska shore and decided to
use the name - but with only one "0". 
When
you stop to chat with local townsfolk and shop owners you find that
Onalaska has quite a colorful history. The area was first settled in
1840, and was a farming area until the arrival of the Carlisle Company.
When
Lake Livingston was completed in 1969, and with the coming of the water,
new life sprang into the little town. Almost overnight Onalaska blossomed
with new shops and businesses popping up everywhere. 
The
dam, which was completed in 1969, was constructed by removal of 11,000,000
yards of foundation for the spillway and was then backfilled with sand
to a depth of 10 feet below the mean level of the Gulf of Mexico. Floodgates
on the spillway are designed to handle over three times the volume of
water during the largest flood in the history of the Trinity River.
Spillway and outlet work construction consisted of 110,000 cubic feet
of concrete.  |
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