MOORE, TEXAS

Frio County, South Texas
Highway 81 and FM 462
13 Miles NE of Pearsall
44 Miles SW of San Antonio
Population: 644 (2000)

Moore Area Hotels: Pearsall Hotels

History in a Pecan Shell

By Brewster Hudspeth

The town’s probable namesake was early settler R. W. "Mustang" Moore. The honor was not made for donating land, starting a school or for being a railroad official. Mr. Moore was found in the doorway of his cabin – dying from wounds received in an 1861 Indian raid.

A second (and more often repeated) story claims that a stranger detrained in the town and uttered that he could take "no more" of Texas. He found the nearest crossbeam that could support his weight and hanged himself. This amusing but dubious story doesn’t provide the name the town was operating under when the stranger arrived. It would seem that if this story was true, we’d be writing about Nomore, Texas. But it’s a colorful story.

The next event in Moore’s timeline came in 1870 when August and Louisa Obets transmigrated from Henri Castro’s settlement. The Obets became Moore’s first “permanent” settlers (which means they were not killed by Indians).

After living in a sod-covered house, this pioneering couple built a frame house in 1876 – providing an anchor for civilization to affix itself to. Mr. Moore’s name lived on as Moore Hollow.

In August of 1881 fifty acres were sold for the development of a townsite. The buyer in turn, granted a right-of-way to the International-Great Northern Railroad in early 1882. With the prestige of having a railroad connection, the community became Moore Hollow Station and was granted a post office under that name. It was that same year of 1882 when the first general store opened and a Masonic lodge was established.

In two short years, the town added another general store, a saloon and a hotel. The population had grown to 50, doubling by 1890. The 100 residents felt the name cumbersome, so in 1892 the Hollow was dropped, becoming Moore Station. In 1897 the Station was dropped, making it just plain Moore – the name by which its known today.

The town was thriving around 1900 and even a yellow fever epidemic in 1903 didn’t thwart growth. By 1910 it was and one of the largest towns between San Antonio and Laredo.

What yellow fever couldn’t do, the boll weevil did. The great infestation of the early 1920s ruined the cotton crop – Moore’s economic engine. The switch from farming to ranching eliminated the need for workers and the town declined in population.

The population reached 350 but dropped to 180 by 1950 – the year the Moore schools merged into Pearsall’s ISD. Fom the 1970s to 1990 the number of residents stabilized at an estimated 230. The 2000 census shows a population increase to 644.