La Réunion CemeteryDALLAS TEXAS

Colony Timeline

December 1848
Napoleon III elected president of France
June 1849
Victor Prosper Considerant exiled to Belgium
1852/1853
Considerant tours parts of US including Texas, returns to Europe and publishes Au Texas, advocating a colony here.
26 September 1854
Investment company Société de Colonisation Européo-Américaine established
Share certificate of the Société de Colonisation Européo-Américaine au Texas, made out to Santerre.
Share certificate of the Société de Colonisation Européo-Américaine au Texas, made out to Santerre.
3 October 1854
Advance agent François Cantagrel leaves for US
February 1855
About 200 colonists sailed from New Orleans to Galveston then proceeded by the bayou to Houston and took ox wagons from there for the 6 week trip to Dallas.
March 1855
Advance agent François Cantagrel purchased 1,920 acres of land for the colony for $10,270.
26 April 1855
Vanguard of 14 young men arrive in Dallas and begin construction of common buildings
Two sketches of dwellings in the colony.
Sketches of colony dwellings.
16 June 1855
About 200 colonists reach La Réunion
September 1855
Malaria outbreak
1 November 1855
First wedding in colony: colonist Louise Dusseau and Samuel Jones from Cedar Hill area
29 April 1856
Cedar Hill tornado damages La Réunion lime kiln seriously injuring the senior M. Barbier
May 1856
Blizzard destroys crops and freezes Trinity River
Summer 1856
Drought and grasshoppers ravage crops
6 July 1856
Cantagrel resigns position in the colony after months of conflict with Considerant, particularly over his failure to compensate colonists who had chosen to leave the community. Considerant then worked out a deal with the colonists over withheld wages, but on the morning of July 8, before the agreement was signed, Considerant was found to have fled the colony, never to return.
Sketch of the director’s house.
Sketch of the director’s house.
11 August 1856
First child born in colony: George Cretien
Autumn 1856
Population peaks at about 350
1 September 1856
La Réunion incorporated by act of the Texas legislature
28 January 1857
Allyre Bureau, founding partner and director since Considerant’s resignation, gave formal notice of the colony’s dissolution.
16 June 1858
Colony lands replatted and several colonists took land in lieu of money they were owed.
French-language map of the colony lands showing the parcels of the colonist families, the surviving cemetery, and the abandoned plan for a new town.
After the colony collapsed, the land was replatted in June 1858 and several colonists took land in lieu of money they were owed. This map shows the location of some prominent colonists’ new homesteads. Labels are in French; the cemetery is marked “cimetière encore existant” (cemetery still existing).
Source: Jim Foster
By 1860
Most colonists had left the settlement
1861–1865
US Civil War. Some colonists enlisted, others obtained exemption as foreign citizens
1880s
Emile Remond founds Iola Cement Plant
1907
Cement City formed to house workers of nearby cement plants. In 1910 the Mexican Revolution began and some of the refugees went to work in the cement plants.
10 April 1924
Granite historical marker for colony installed at Westmoreland and Fort Worth Avenue (now located at north end of Stevens Park Golf Course). Possibly the second oldest historical marker in Dallas.
Granite historical marker for the colony, placed in 1924.
The granite marker placed by the Jane Douglas Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, April 10, 1924.
1930s
Last La Réunion house collapses
Ruins of the Delord house, the last colony house standing: two stone gable walls with empty door and window openings.
Last colony house standing. Constructed in 1859 by Francois, Joseph and Pierre Girard, Jr., sons of Pierre Girard, one of the colonists. This house faced on North Westmoreland Avenue near the intersection of Highway 80. It was built for and occupied by Alphonse Delord, a banker who came to the colony from Paris, France, with his wife, daughter, and son in the year of 1856.
1940
Former cooperative store was being used as a barn
Sketch of the colony’s cooperative store.
Sketch of the colony’s cooperative store.
1954
Dallas annexes area now known as West Dallas, including former colony land