A Spanish Mission Once Stood Near Present-Day Wallisville

Before any American or Mexican settlers arrived, the land that became Chambers County was home to Karankawa, Coapite, and Copane people. In 1756, Spain built the Nuestra Señora de la Luz Mission near present-day Wallisville. Spain set up the mission to keep a hold on the region and to work among the Indigenous peoples there.

American settlement started in 1821 after Mexican independence. Land grant holders called empresarios — including Joseph Vehlein and David G. Burnet — received grants covering most of what is now Chambers County. Early settlers came in through Perry's Point on Trinity Bay. That town was later renamed Anahuac in 1825.

Wallisville stayed a small community after it lost the county seat in 1907. Later, the Wallisville Lake Project — a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reservoir — changed the land around the old town. Wallisville has some of the oldest roots of any place in the county.