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| Two
residents of San Perlita. TE Photo |
History
in a Seashell
The area was a part of a Spanish land grant that the King Ranch acquired
after proving in court that the terms of the grant hadn't been met. The land became
part of the state and the King Ranch obtained it shortly thereafter.
Henrietta King sold the land to developers and the town was laid out in 1926.
Charles Johnson and H.G. Hecht were the town planners while Johnson's wife, Pyrle
planned the landscaping. Pyrle became the namesake of the town, that is the self-proclaimed
"Pearl of the Valley".
The post office was established in 1929
and the railroad arrived a year later. In 1933 there were eighteen businesses
operating in town, but by 1939 there were less than half that number.
San
Perlita Historical Marker
San Perlita Today
Today there appears to be one open business and several well-kept building which
date from the town's founding.
The school is well-kept and the entire
community as a whole is quite neat, despite the number of vacant lots.
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San Perlita
Historical Marker TextSAN
PERLITA
"Pearl of the Valley"Part
of the Carricitos land grant issued in 1790 by the King of Spain to Jose Narcisso
Cavozos, this agricultural community and the surroundings farmland were developed
soon after the Missiouri Pacific Railroad extended a branch line to this area
in 1926. The San Perlita Development Company cleared more than twenty thousand
acres of land for growing staple, vegetable, and citrus crops and laid out the
townsite of San Perilta. Since its development, the area has made significant
contributions to the quality of life in this part of the Rio Grande Valley. |
San
Perlita Historical Marker on FM 2209
Photo courtesy Ken
Rudine, November 2009 |
| A
former store in San Perlita. TE Photo |
| | The
San Perlita Mascot?
TE Photo |
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The post office
in San Perlita
TE Photo |
San
Perlita Texas ForumSubject:
Special Memories
My name is Derek Richardson and I'm currently living
in Van Buren, Arkansas. San Perlita holds a lot of special memories for me. My
parents both attended and graduated there from San Perlita High School. My Dads
name is Nolan E. Richardson and my Mothers name is Joyce. Dads parents Mr. & Mrs.
Gordon E. Richardson lived there in San Perlita for many years. My Mothers maiden
name was Joyce McCraw and her parents Mr. & Mrs. Olan McCraw lived out on a farm
called the Crane place out past Wilamar. They later moved to Raymondville but
continued to farm the land and my Grandmother Bertha worked in Raymondville for
Kivett Ford for many years.
My Junior and Senior years of high school
growing up in Granbury, Texas
were very special because of the opportunity I had to spend the summers of these
two years in Raymondville working for my Grandfather Olan McCraw. I used to haul
all the cotton and grain to the gin there in San Perlita and usually stopped by
the little store that was there on the left side of the road just on the edge
of town to get me a cold soda. My Dad said that he and his friends talked the
school officials into allowing them to start San Perlitas very first football
team. His stepbrother Utah Dickerson was also on the team as well. It was really
neat working there and everytime I would go to the San Perlita gin I would always
run into someone that knew my Mom and Dad and my Grandparents. I especially enjoyed
meeting Andy Shoemaker and Raymond Rhodes. They were in the gin quite often.
Raymondville is where my brother Rick
Richardson was born (6/5/51) and I was born there as well on 6/2/53. We have lots
of ties and some very fond memories of San Perlita, Raymondville, and lots of
fun trips out to Port Mansfield. I hope I can return again some day very soon.
I have an Aunt and Uncle and several cousin who live in Weslaco.
We will have to drop by and see these wonderful places that hold so many memories
the next time we are down that way visiting. Thank You for your web site and I
hope I didn't bore you. - Derek B. Richardson, Van Buren, Arkansas, May 07,
2006
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