[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 120 (Tuesday, July 29, 2014)]
[House]
[Page H6984]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   JOURNEYING THROUGH THE 23RD DISTRICT OF TEXAS, THE TOWN OF COTULLA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Gallego) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GALLEGO. Mr. Speaker, today, I would like to continue the journey 
through the vastness of the 23nd District of Texas and pass through a 
Texas town with an early reputation for infamy. ``Cotulla! Everybody 
get your guns ready,'' that is what train conductors would yell as they 
approached the town of Cotulla, which was established in 1881.
  In spite of its infamous start, Cotulla emerged from the roughness 
that is common to early Texas towns and became an early indicator of 
the social change that was to come to America, taking on issues such as 
civil rights and women's education.
  Life in Cotulla inspired a very young teacher, a man by the name of 
Lyndon B. Johnson, who went on to serve as our country's 36th 
President, and inspired him to lead the fight for change. President 
Johnson taught Mexican Americans in Cotulla's segregated public 
schools.

                              {time}  1045

  Early on, he understood how education could pull a family out of 
generations of poverty and push them into the middle class. LBJ, after 
his experience in Cotulla, once said:

       This Nation could never rest while the door to knowledge 
     remained closed to any American.

  Education, the key that opens the locks of success, found an early 
ally in Cotulla. The town itself was founded by a young entrepreneur by 
the name of Joseph Cotulla, who was a Polish immigrant and a veteran of 
the Union Army. He was willing to take the risk of establishing a town 
after learning that the International-Great Northern Railroad intended 
to expand into La Salle County. This willingness to risk is still what 
makes our country great today.
  The town grew from an early farming and ranching community into an 
energy boomtown in the 1950s. That still continues today in the Eagle 
Ford Shale area. Today, as in the past, the folks in Cotulla work to 
secure America's energy future, and by 2035, our energy deficit will be 
reduced to 4 percent.
  Today, many of the descendants of Joseph Cotulla still live in the 
town. The town has seen tremendous change since its founding and its 
infamous early reputation. In truth, we find a small reflection of 
America in Cotulla: a willingness to overcome adversity and take risks 
to find success and to achieve. Cotulla's history also points out that 
the fabric of American society doesn't always match our founding 
values, but in Cotulla, it set in place a desire to change that.
  I invite anyone who is visiting south Texas to stop by Cotulla, to 
learn its history, and to enjoy its hospitality.

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