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History in
a Pecan Shell
The land dates back to the 1750s when it was part of a Spanish land grant
administered by Jose Escandon. Escandon was responsible for establishing missions
throughout the area to keep the French from colonizing the area.
Alice
would be the first entry in a long list of towns, cities and counties named after
King-Kleberg relatives and friends. Alice was the daughter of Richard and
Henrietta King and the County was named after the family lawyer, James Wells.
In the late Nineteenth Century, two railroads intersected at Alice, making
it the busiest shipping point in the world for beef.
Alice has retained
some of the petroleum business that made the whole area boom in the 1930s.
Downtown Alice retains some of it's former dignity - although several
buildings seem to have been closed for years. A few buildings reveal their age
- while others have been sheathed in plywood and aluminum.
One of them
- the Texas State Bank of Alice - was involved with improprieties concerning George
Parr of neighboring Duval County - the infamous "Duke of Duval". |
Historical
Marker
401 East 2nd Street, AliceAliceIn
the 1880s, when the lines of the Corpus Christi, San Diego, and Rio Grande and
the San Antonio and Aransas Pass railroads intersected, a new townsite was platted
at the junction in what was then Nueces County. First called Bandana and
then Kleberg, the town was finally named Alice (for Alice King Kleberg)
when a post office was granted in 1888. Homes, business, schools, in south
Texas were headquartered in Alice. P. A. Presnall was elected the first mayor
in 1904. Alice became the county seat of newly created Jim Wells County in 1911.
(1988) |
1936 Centennial
Highway Marker
Junction of US 281 and Hwy 44Jim
Wells CountyFormed
from Nueces County, created March 11, 1911, organized May 6, 1911.
Named
for Judge James B. Wells, an able lawyer. Born near Aransas
Pass, Texas, July 12, 1854; died at Brownsville,
December 21, 1923.
Alice, the county seat. |
Texas
Star
Texas State Bank Architectural Details
Photo
courtesy Terry
Jeanson, July 2010 |
| R
- A recent statue to Jose de Escandon y Elguera TE photo |
Photographer's
Note:
"According to the alicetx.org website, the water tower, completed
in 1927, is the world's tallest cement water tower at 165 feet tall. On May 21,
2007, a plaque at the bottom of the tower was dedicated in memory of Jose Angel
De Leon who fell to his death during the construction of the tower on May 21,
1927." - Terry
Jeanson, July 2010 |
Alice Texas Forum
Subject:
Ghost Stories
I have a Ghost Story for you.
There is a story
of a man dressed in Army fatigues hitchhiking by the overpass (going into Alice
from Orange Grove). The story is if you are going through the overpass at midnight
and you see the hitch hiker dressed in army fatigues, (he is trying to get home
from the war) you better stop and pick him up because if you don't he will appear
in your back seat.
I was a Senior from Orange Grove Tx. It was the summer
of 1984. .. next
page - Melisa Sammons, August 04, 2005
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