|
|
History
in a Pecan shell
The St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway arrived here in 1907
and the town was platted two years later. John James Welder and David
Odem were the town developers. David just happened to be the county
sheriff, which may or may not have influenced the naming of the town.
Coleman-Fulton Pasture Company lands had been sold and subdivided
into small farms. Smaller communities of Angelita, Kaleta, Meansville,
and Sharpsburg were drawn into “greater” Odem. By 1915 there were
500 residents.
Vegetable farming was the town’s initial economy. Beets, Cabbage,
Onions, Radishes and Spinach
were the predominant crops.
Decades later it is corn,
cotton and grain sorghum that is
shipped out. Many townspeople commute to Corpus
Christi for work. By the late 1980s the population had increased
to almost 3,000. |
|
|
