San Perlita Texas, Willacy County. (original) (raw)
Two residents of San Perlita.
TE Photo
History in a SeashellThe area was a part of a Spanish land grant that the King Ranch acquired after proving in court that the terms of the grant hadn't been met. The land became part of the state and the King Ranch obtained it shortly thereafter.
Henrietta King sold the land to developers and the town was laid out in 1926. Charles Johnson and H.G. Hecht were the town planners while Johnson's wife, Pyrle planned the landscaping. Pyrle became the namesake of the town, that is the self-proclaimed "Pearl of the Valley".
The post office was established in 1929 and the railroad arrived a year later. In 1933 there were eighteen businesses operating in town, but by 1939 there were less than half that number.
San Perlita Historical Marker ›
San Perlita Today
Today there appears to be one open business and several well-kept building which date from the town's founding.
The school is well-kept and the entire community as a whole is quite neat, despite the number of vacant lots.
San Perlita Historical Marker
SAN PERLITA
"Pearl of the Valley"
Part of the Carricitos land grant issued in 1790 by the King of Spain to Jose Narcisso Cavozos, this agricultural community and the surroundings farmland were developed soon after the Missiouri Pacific Railroad extended a branch line to this area in 1926. The San Perlita Development Company cleared more than twenty thousand acres of land for growing staple, vegetable, and citrus crops and laid out the townsite of San Perilta. Since its development, the area has made significant contributions to the quality of life in this part of the Rio Grande Valley.
San Perlita Historical Marker on FM 2209
Photo courtesy Ken Rudine, November 2009
A former store in San Perlita.
TE Photo
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The San Perlita Mascot? TE Photo |
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The post office in San Perlita TE Photo |
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San Perlita, Texas Forum
- Subject: Special Memories
My name is Derek Richardson and I'm currently living in Van Buren, Arkansas. San Perlita holds a lot of special memories for me. My parents both attended and graduated there from San Perlita High School. My Dads name is Nolan E. Richardson and my Mothers name is Joyce. Dads parents Mr. & Mrs. Gordon E. Richardson lived there in San Perlita for many years. My Mothers maiden name was Joyce McCraw and her parents Mr. & Mrs. Olan McCraw lived out on a farm called the Crane place out past Wilamar. They later moved to Raymondville but continued to farm the land and my Grandmother Bertha worked in Raymondville for Kivett Ford for many years.
My Junior and Senior years of high school growing up in Granbury, Texas were very special because of the opportunity I had to spend the summers of these two years in Raymondville working for my Grandfather Olan McCraw. I used to haul all the cotton and grain to the gin there in San Perlita and usually stopped by the little store that was there on the left side of the road just on the edge of town to get me a cold soda. My Dad said that he and his friends talked the school officials into allowing them to start San Perlitas very first football team. His stepbrother Utah Dickerson was also on the team as well. It was really neat working there and everytime I would go to the San Perlita gin I would always run into someone that knew my Mom and Dad and my Grandparents. I especially enjoyed meeting Andy Shoemaker and Raymond Rhodes. They were in the gin quite often.
Raymondville is where my brother Rick Richardson was born (6/5/51) and I was born there as well on 6/2/53. We have lots of ties and some very fond memories of San Perlita, Raymondville, and lots of fun trips out to Port Mansfield. I hope I can return again some day very soon. I have an Aunt and Uncle and several cousin who live in Weslaco. We will have to drop by and see these wonderful places that hold so many memories the next time we are down that way visiting. Thank You for your web site and I hope I didn't bore you. - Derek B. Richardson, Van Buren, Arkansas, May 07, 2006
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