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Cuero Hotels


CUERO, TEXAS


DeWitt County
Seat, Central Texas South

29° 5' 37" N, 97° 17' 28" W (29.093611, -97.291111)

Highways 183, 77A, and 87
28 Miles NW of Victoria
33 Miles SE of Gonzales
About 37 Miles SW of Hallettsville
ZIP code 77954
Area code 361
Population: 8,236 est.(2019)
6,841 (2010) 6,571 (2000) 6,700 (1990)

Book Hotel Here › Cuero Hotels

Cuero Texas Stratton Building Highway 183
A Victorian strip on Cuero's Highway 183 (Alt 77).
Photo courtesy Stephen Michaels, July 2008

Cuero, Texas Topics:

  • Cuero History
  • Cuero Landmarks & Attractions
  • Cuero Vintage Photos
  • DeWitt County Courthouse › next page
  • Cuero Chronicles


  • History in a Pecan Shell

    DeWitt County’s first post office opened in 1846 in a store four miles north of present-day Cuero. This town was also called Cuero, after the creek of the same name. The Gulf, Western Texas and Pacific Railroad chose Cuero as a stop since it was equidistant between the port of Indianola and San Antonio. The railroad arrived in January of 1873 and by 1876 Cuero took the title of county seat from the railroad-deficient town of Clinton.

    Hurricanes in 1875 and 1886 crippled and then killed Indianola – creating an influx of people and businesses. It was the shot-in-the-arm that the fledgling town needed – and it had long term effects.

    The town suffered a devastating fire in the Spring of 1879 and lawlessness threatened to get a foothold until local law-enforcement was bolstered by the Home Protection Club, a police auxiliary.

    In 1886 the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway (SAAP) added a line to Houston. Cuero had the potential to rival Victoria with its potential exploitation of the Guadalupe River, but the river proved not to be navigable. The following year Cuero had a population of 2,500 and what seemed to be a limitless future.

    The town had the economic boost of a railroad machine shop and a large textile factory with steam-powered looms. Cuero had one of the states largest cottonseed oil mills in the 1890s and its long-running turkey industry shipped birds nationwide for the first four decades of the 20th century.

    Cuero’s population reached 3,671 by the mid-1920s and the hydroelectric dam built on the Guadalupe River was once the largest in Texas. By the mid-1940s the population rose to 5,474 and reached 7,498 in the next decade. Cuero was the state’s largest shipper of cattle in 1942 and 1943.

    In the late 1960s Cuero reached its high-water mark with 7,800 residents. In the mid-1980s it had declined to just over 7,000. The county courthouse was restored in the mid 1950s and has just completed another restoration in 2008. The DeWitt County Historical Museum shares space with the chamber of commerce in the former post office. The population was 6,571 for the 2000 census.

    Cuero, Texas Landmarks & Attractions



     DeWitt County Courthouse
    Photo courtesy Stephen Michaels, July 2008
    DeWitt County Courthouse


    Cuero Texas main street
    Cuero's "Main Street"
    Photo courtesy Stephen Michaels, July 2008


    Cuero Texas 1903 building with mural
    An artistic mural complements fancy brickwork.
    Photo courtesy Stephen Michaels, July 2008

    More Pitted Dates | Texas Murals | Texas Towns


    Cuero Texas narrow building
    "Making the best use of a narrow alley since 1879."
    TE Photo, July 2008


    Cuero Texas stone bouquet
    A stone bouquet graces a former drugstore.
    Photo courtesy Stephen Michaels, July 2008


    Cuero Texas former hotel
    A former hotel.
    TE Photo, July 2008

    More Rooms with a Past | Texas Towns


    Cuero Texas former post office
    The former post office is now the local museum and chamber of commerce.
    Photo courtesy Stephen Michaels, July 2008

    More Texas Post Offices | Texas Towns


    Cuero Texas former post office device
    A familiar device on the former post office.
    TE photo, July 2008


    Cuero Texas jewelers neon sign
    24 Carat Neon.
    TE photo, July 2008

    More Texas Old Neons | Texas Towns


    Cuero Texas 1907 Graves building
    A restoration in progress.
    TE photo, July 2008

    More Pitted Dates | Texas Towns


    Cuero Texas Graves ghost sign
    Ghost Sign for the benefit of the "pedestrian trade."
    Photo courtesy Stephen Michaels, July 2008


    Cuero Texas 7up ghost sign
    Squares on rectangles: A rare 7up Ghost Sign
    Photo courtesy Stephen Michaels, July 2008


    Cuero Texas "baby chicks" ghost sign

    Feed Store Ghost Sign
    Photo courtesy Stephen Michaels, July 2008
    More Texas Ghost Signs | Texas Towns



    Cuero Texas outdoor cast iron staircase
    A beautiful cast iron staircase.
    Photo courtesy Stephen Michaels, July 2008


    Cuero Texas restoration in progress
    Yet another restoration in progress.
    TE Photo, July 2008


    Cuero Texas Runge Co ghost sign
    Runge and Company:
    One of the many businesses that relocated from Indianola

    TE Photo, July 2008


    Cuero Texas Coca-Cola  ghost sign
    A familiar ghost sign:
    Cuero's old Coca-Cola bottling works is still standing nearby.
    TE Photo, July 2008

    More Texas Ghost Signs | Coca-Cola | Texas Towns


    Cuero Texas Stratton Building threshhold
    A downtown threshold.
    TE photo , July 2008


    Eagle, War Memorial on courthouse lawn, Cuero Texas
    The War Memorial on the SE corner of the courthouse lawn.
    TE photo, July 2008

    More Texas Eagles | Texas Towns


    DeWitt County courthouse
    TE Photo, July 2008
    DeWitt County Courthouse


    Cuero Texas dog
    White Fang / Pink Tongue. The friendliest dog in Cuero
    TE Photo, July 2008

    See Texas Animals | Texas Towns


    Cuero, Texas Vintage Photos


    First Turkey Trot, Cuero, Texas  1912 photo
    1912 Vintage photo courtesy William Beauchamp Collection
    See Cuero Turkey Trot


    Cuero Texas - Horton's Carriage Business 1911
    Horton's Carriage Business, 1911
    Click on image to enlarge

    Postcard courtesy Dan Whatley Collection


    Cuero TX, Cuero Dam 1911 postcard
    Cuero Dam
    1911 postcard courtesy William Beauchamp Collection


    Main Street,  Cuero, TX main street, 1910 postcard
    Cuero, Texas main street
    1910 postcard


    Presbyterian Church, CueroTexas 1910 postcard
    Presbyterian Church, Cuero Texas 1910 postcard
    Postcard courtesy William Beauchamp Collection
    More Texas Churches


    Cuero TX Lutheran Hospital
    Lutheran Hospital, Cuero, Texas
    Postcard courtesy William Beauchamp Collection


    Cuero TX,  W. Live Oak Street old postcard
    W. Live Oak Street, Cuero, Texas
    Postcard courtesy Dan Whatley Collection


    Cuero Texas - April 27th 1941 Cuero Municipal Airport Dedication
    April 27th 1941 Cuero Municipal Airport Dedication
    Postcard courtesy Dan Whatley Collection

    More Texas Old Photos



    Cuero Chronicles:

  • Chupacabra by Mike Cox

  • Cuero Turkey Trot

  • "Get Along Little Turkeys..." by Mike Cox

    ... The first Cuero turkey drive to make the newspapers came in November 1910, when Rudolph and Oscar Egg of the small, German-rooted community of Meyersville drove 1,200-plus turkeys to the county seat for sale at the processing plant, which one newspaper indelicately referred to as a "slaughter house." It took the brothers and six hired hands on horseback two days to herd the birds 13 miles into town.

    Soon, Cuero had two processing plants and cold storage facilities. Given the area's mild climate, abundant open land and natural food sources, turkey raising in DeWitt County took off faster than a startled Tom. By 1914, Cuero shipped more turkeys than any other place in the nation.

    One turkey drive had 8,000 birds flapping and pecking their way along Main Street on their way to becoming holiday meals. But there would be larger herds.... Full article



  • Rabke Methodist Church , Texas
    Photo Courtesy Will Beauchamp
    Rabke Community

    Take a road trip

    DeWitt County Trip -
    A drive through Cuero, Yorktown, Yoakum and Arneckeville

    Cuero, Texas Nearby Towns:
    Victoria | Gonzales | Hallettsville

    See DeWitt County | Central Texas South

    Book Hotel Here:
    Cuero Hotels | More Hotels

    Texas Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories, landmarks and recent or vintage photos, please contact us.

     


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