Ecleto, Texas, Karnes County. (original) (raw)

	Entering Ecleto TE photo

History in a Pecan Shell

"When a post office was established [in present Ecleto] in 1852, the town was then known as Cleto and was in Bexar county. In 1854, following the formation of Karnes County, the Post Office Department designated the office as Ecleto. In 1921, Walter G. Riedel, nephew of Carl Edward Riedel (the man that Gillett, Texas had originally been named after) and others built a cooperative store and cotton gin here to serve the surrounding farm community. The post office was moved and opened in the store at that time. Although the store closed in 1971, the post office continued until June 30, 1987, when it was converted into a neighborhood delivery and collection-box unit."

It is also believed that there was a gin prior to 1921 - but the fact that the 1921 gin was cooperative makes it noteworthy.

	The former Store at Ecleto TE photo

July 2001, Contributed by Alton Newman
Our thanks to Mr. Newman for contributing corrections to the local history of Ecleto and Gillett. There's no question that local facts are by far the most valuable. - Editor

Ecleto, Texas Forum

• Subject: Memeory of Ecleto
  Thank you for what you are doing.. Although I now live in Raleigh, North Carolina, I lived in Ecleto, Texas for 18 years. I [still] have family in Texas and visit at least once a year. I have family members buried in the Gillette cemetery. So we go by the cemetery and then go to Ecleto. My cousin Louis Canales told me he had seen a picture of the store on the internet. It brought back a lot of memories. I went to school for one year in Ecleto and then all of us were transfered to Gillete school... I will be so appreciative if anyone sends me a picture of the school in Ecleto. My e-mail address: mgreene005@nc.rr.com
  There was a gin in Ecleto and there was a fire in the gin... Other families in the area were Molinas, Morenos, Guzmans, Martinez and Ozunas. - Mary Canales Greene, Raleigh, North Carolina, December 28, 2006
• Subject: Ecleto History
  I would like to add some history to the town of Ecleto. My father, a Mexican-American, was born there in a little shack. My grandfather was a cotton sharecropper for a German immigrant. They moved away in the 1940's when my father returned from the war. My uncle told me that there is a large tree located next to the store to which lawbreakers were chained awaiting the arrival of the sheriff from a neighboring city. - Rosalinda Regalado, July 16, 2005

1940s map showing Ecleto in NE Karnes County, and Ecleto Creek
From Texas state map #4335
Courtesy Texas General Land Office

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