Sarita, Texas, Kenedy County seat. (original) (raw)

Left - Flora near Sarita
Right - Sarita water tower and an early building
TE Photos October 2003

History in a Pecan Shell

Sarita was once part of the Kenedy Ranch and John G. Kenedy named the town after his daughter Sarita Kenedy East when it was established in 1904 as a center for the ranch and the Kenedy Pasture Company.

Sarita became a stop on the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railroad.

The town moved one mile east in 1905, when the railroad was resurveyed and tracks had to be relaid. Midwestern land companies promoted Sarita to northerners and ran excursion trains into the area for prospective buyers. Those that were smitten by the landscape could buy lots right then and there from the Kenedy Town and Improvement Company.

Sarita was granted a post office (in the company store) in 1904 and three years later the town had a depot, a one-room school and a cotton gin. The railroad maintained a section house and water tank for the trains.

Many settlers worked for the Kenedy Ranch, while others purchased or leased pasture from the Kenedy Pasture Company to raise cotton. The Pfau store, one of two in Sarita at the time, was bought by John G. Kenedy and served as a courthouse until it burned.

Sarita had originally been in Cameron County and became the county seat of the newly formed Willacy County in 1911.Then in 1921 when Kenedy County was formed, it served as county seat again.

A hurricane struck the coast in 1916 and many residents abandoned their farms. The land then reverted back to the Kenedy Pasture Company.

The road from the north ended abruptly (and rudely according to other sources) at Sarita and it wasn't until the 40s that highway 77 was completed to Brownsville.

Sarita Kenedy East died in 1961.

	Sarita Kenedy East Photo Courtesy Kenedy Ranch Museum

Sarita, Texas Landmarks & Attractions

Year-round birding.
South Texas wildflowers viewing in spring.

The Kenedy Pasture Company, now the Kenedy Ranch Museum
Photo courtesy Gerald Massey, October 2010

Kenedy Ranch Museum of South Texas

200 E. La Parra Ave.
361/294-5751
www.kenedyranchmuseum.org

Kenedy Ranch Museum of South Texas
Photo courtesy Gerald Massey, October 2010

Speed trap ahead
TE Photos October 2003

Kenedy County 1940s map showing Sarita
From Texas state map #4335
Courtesy Texas General Land Office

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