Name/Title
Joseph Cotulla [Press Photo]Description
1975 press photo of Joseph Cotulla.Context
Cotulla, the county seat of La Salle County, is twenty-seven miles north of Encinal on U.S. Interstate Highway 35 in the northwestern part of the county. The town was named for Joseph Cotulla, a Polish immigrant. After learning that the International-Great Northern Railroad intended to extend its tracks into La Salle County in the early 1880s, Joseph Cotulla worked to build a town on the present site of Cotulla. In 1881 he provided 120 acres of land to induce the railroad to build into the county, and by 1882 a railroad depot had been built and lots in the new town had begun to be sold.