Los Fresnos, Texas. (original) (raw)

History in a Pecan Shell

A ranch called Los Fresnos is said to have occupied a nearby site as early as 1770 although the exact location of present-day Los Fresnos once had a ranch named El Esp�ritu Santo. After the Mexican War four tiny communities (Los Cuates, Charco Hondo, Tres Norias, and Agua Negra) merged to form Los Fresnos.

Railroad development in the early 1900s brought trainloads of land speculators into South Texas. In 1907 Lon C. Hill, Jr. broke 14,232 acres into lots. Los Fresnos was developed in 1915.

Settlers were lured to the area from northern states. A post office was granted in 1919, although it closed its doors a mere three years later. The arrival of the Railroad in 1927 reopened the post office in 1929 when the community was nearing 400 residents.

From 1939 to 1944 the population remained at 475, growing to 1,113 in a post war boom. Los Fresnos remained primarily a farming community, steadily increasing its population to 1,500 by the mid 1960s.

The estimated population of 1,275 increased to 2,040 for the 1980 census. Three colonias developed around Los Fresnos in the 1990s, pushing the population to an estimated 4,512 by 2000.

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Wildlife at Los Fresnos
Photo courtesy Ken Rudine, February 2008

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