COULTERVILLE, TEXAS. Coulterville, also known as Culver, was in Buckner's Prairie, fifteen miles east of Bay City in eastern Matagorda County. In 1888 William D. Culver became the first postmaster, and by 1891 a community with two general stores, one owned by Culver, had developed. The following year the population was 125; the settlement supported nine businesses, including six general stores, and had a justice, a constable, and a physician. In 1894 Lemuel P. Coulter became postmaster, and the following year the post office name was changed to Coulterville. By 1896 Coulterville had 200 residents, a justice, a constable, a physician, and five general stores. In 1899 the voting precinct was still named Culver. When the Cane Belt Railroad came through the county in 1901 a Culver railroad stop was founded four miles south of Bay City. In 1904, the last year population estimates are available for the community, Coulterville reported 161 residents. In 1911 its post office was discontinued, and the mail was rerouted through Bay City. In 1936 Coulterville was not labeled on the county highway map, but a number of dwellings remained in the area. By 1952 maps showed nothing at the site. A Culver school was located near Citrus Grove in the western part of the county from at least 1917 until its consolidation with the Palacios schools in the late 1930s.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Matagorda County Historical Commission, Historic Matagorda County (3 vols., Houston: Armstrong, 1986).
