HON. RON PAUL
OF TEXAS
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Tuesday, July 13, 1999
1999 Ron Paul 73:1 Mr. PAUL.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay
tribute to the City of Yoakum, Texas, which
will celebrate its 112th birthday on Wednesday,
July 28, 1999, with a festival at the city’s
Heritage Museum.
1999 Ron Paul 73:2 Yoakum is located partially in western
Lavaca County and partially in eastern DeWitt
County. Today, the city is known as the
“Leather Capital of the World,” due primarily
to the economic impact of 12 leather goods
manufacturing firms and some 16 factory locations
in Yoakum.
1999 Ron Paul 73:3 In its early years, Anglo-Americans used
Yoakum as a gathering site for thousands of
bawling Texas Longhorns that were grouped
into cattle drives and driven along the Chisolm
Trail to market. Yoakum’s townsite was established
in 1887 with the arrival of the San Antonio
& Aransas Pass Railroad — the railroad of
Yoakum’s history.
1999 Ron Paul 73:4 Once, Yoakum was the “Green Wrap” tomato
capita of the world and still commemorates
this heritage with the annual “Tom Tom
Festival.” As that industry faded, the community
leaders — namely Mr. C. C. Welhausen — fostered
the idea that Yoakum needed another
industry as a base to its economy. The result:
a leather industry era that now employs some
1,500 and produces millions of dollars of the
Yoakum area economy.
1999 Ron Paul 73:5 Beef production is also huge in Yoakum,
and both Lavaca and DeWitt Counties rank in
the top five counties in the State of Texas in
cow-calf operations. A true cowboy culture exists
in the Yoakum area due to the thousands
of head of cattle grown on area ranches.
1999 Ron Paul 73:6 I am proud to represent a city so full of rich,
Texas heritage. Mr. Speaker, I hope you will
join me sending happy birthday wishes to the
City of Yoakum, Texas.
Note:
1999 Ron Paul 73:4
tomato capita of the world probably should be tomato capital of the world.
