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PAWNEE,
TEXAS
Bee County, South
Texas
FMs 673 and 798
22 Miles NW of Beeville
Population: 201 (2000)
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History in
a Pecan Shell
The name is said to come from a board with the inscription "Pawnee"
that someone had nailed to a tree. Prior to the establishment of Bee
County, an Irish family named Sullivan bought much of the land where
Pawnee now stands. After a series of transfers, Rancher W. J. Lott
became owner of the land and split his spread into smaller parcels
in the 1890s. Pawnee's first school was built in 1910, about the same
time the first store opened. Pawnee prospered in the 1920s and at
one time had four grocery stores, a physican. druggist, blacksmith
and garage. Oil was discovered in 1930.
Pawnee's church history is more colorful than most Texas towns of
its size. For a small town, Pawnee had Baptist, Catholic, Church of
Christ, Swedish Lutheran, German Lutheran, Methodist, and Pentecostal
congregations. A brick school was build in 1936 and the population
reached it's high-water mark of 300 just as the United States was
entering WWII.
The post war population was just 225 when the town was granted a post
office around 1950. The town's businesses all closed prior to 1980.
The population has declined from the 1990 Census of 249 to the current
201 residents. |
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Cotton
Gin in Pawnee
TE photo, June 2004
More Cotton Gins |
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