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Poteet, Texas

Everything Poteet is known for

79 songs mention this city 4 artists from here

RoadyGoat plays music like this when you drive through Poteet. It's free on iPhone, and full songs play through Apple Music.

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Poteet, Texas, known as the "Strawberry Capital of Texas," is also connected to a notable musical heritage. This city, located in Atascosa County about 30 miles south of San Antonio, is home to several artists and is mentioned in numerous songs.

Country music legend George Strait was born in Poteet, and his songs like "Write This Down" and "The Chair" are part of the 60 songs in our collection that mention the town. Tejano music artist David Lee Garza also hails from Poteet, and his group, David Lee Garza y Los Musicales, has performed at the annual Poteet Strawberry Festival, which often features a mix of country and Tejano music.

Music in Poteet

Songs About Poteet

San Antone
Randy Rogers Band
53%
"There's a girl from down around Poteet"
Fit For The King
Kyle Park
50%
"Fit for the King"
tennessee drinkin'
william beckmann
45%
Crushin' It
Brad Paisley
45%
"But like the great George freakin Strait, I'm the king of getting unwound"
Damn Strait
Scotty McCreery
45%
"Every damn Strait song"
George Fucking Strait
Laci Kaye Booth
45%
"George fucking Strait"
God & George Strait
Rich O'Toole
45%
"God and George Strait"
Check Yes or No
george strait
45%
I Cross My Heart
george strait
45%
The Chair
george strait
45%
Write This Down
george strait
45%
Third Row George Strait
Frank Ray
42%
"Third row George Strait"
Damn Strait
Granger Smith
40%
"Every damn Strait song"
Give It To Me Strait
Tim McGraw
40%
"Just give it to me Strait"
Texas
Blake Shelton
18%
"George Strait said it Yeah, that's where all them exes go"
Easy Money Down in Texas
Ray Wylie Hubbard
8%
"Don't ever disrespect George Strait"
Last Time for Everything
Brad Paisley
8%
"Like a George Strait cassette in a Pontiac"
Real World
Big & Rich
8%
"I got more money than George Strait"
Alone In The Light
Kyle Park
8%
"I'll Two-step to Conway and waltz to The King"
Girls I Date
Mike Ryan
8%
"I ain't Merle Haggard and I ain't George Strait"

Showing top 20 of 79 songs · Hear more in the free iPhone app

Artists From Poteet

G
George Strait
country
D
David Lee Garza
latin
D
David Lee Garza y Los Musicales
latin
B
Brad Jenschke
country

Rivers & Roads in Song near Poteet

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Poteet.

San Antonio River 2 songs Interstate 35 45 songs Interstate 10 36 songs US Route 90 9 songs Chisholm Trail 8 songs Frio River 13 songs

Musical Heritage

Poteet's Strawberry Festival Grounds RoadyGoat

These hundred and six acres just north of town are the Poteet Strawberry Festival grounds, home to one of South Texas's biggest parties. The festival started in 1948, when the Poteet Rotary Club threw a small strawberry celebration in downtown Poteet, drawing about five thousand people that first year. By 1980 the event had outgrown downtown and moved out here to its own grounds, where it's stayed ever since. Today it draws more than a hundred thousand visitors over a single weekend every April, with a main stage and a second stage running country and Tejano music back to back alongside the strawberry vendors. Nearly eighty years after that first Rotary Club gathering, the festival is still going strong on the same ground you're passing right now.

RoadyGoat →

History of Poteet

Poteet, TX RoadyGoat

A notable landmark in Poteet is the mosaic of Poteet Canyon, which stands in front of the town's fire station. This artwork is named after the town and is inspired by the long-running comic strip by Milton Caniff, adding a unique cultural touch to the city's landscape.

RoadyGoat →

Where the King of Country Was Born RoadyGoat

Country music's reigning King got his start in this strawberry town. George Harvey Strait was born in Poteet on May 18, 1952, the son of John and Doris Strait, before the family settled in nearby Pearsall, where his father taught school and ran a ranch and George spent his boyhood working cattle on weekends and summers. That ranch upbringing, the horses, the dust, the quiet work, would later soak into the plainspoken honky-tonk and Western swing that made him a legend. Strait went on to score dozens of number-one singles and become one of the best-selling country artists ever, the unhurried, hat-tipping standard-bearer fans simply call the King of Country. He's far better known for Pearsall, where he was raised, but the birth record points right back here to Poteet, the little Atascosa County town that can rightly claim it was the first ground a future Country Music Hall of Famer ever stood on. Roll the windows down for this one; somewhere out in these fields is where the story of George Strait began. (Source: The Boot; Britannica.)

RoadyGoat →

How a Cotton Town Became the Strawberry Capital RoadyGoat

Poteet wasn't always berry country. For decades cotton ruled these fields, and the town stayed small until the railroad and the water changed everything. Storekeeper Henry Mumme discovered artesian wells here around 1904, and when the Artesian Belt Railroad pushed through in 1910 on land the Mumme family helped provide, Poteet suddenly had both irrigation water and a way to ship perishable crops. The real turn came in 1920, when Gustav Aigner moved to town and grew Missionary strawberries that thrived in the local sandy soil. Word spread fast, and the strawberry quickly became one of the town's signature crops, prized for ripening early and tasting sweet under the South Texas sun. The combination, artesian water, fine sandy loam, mild winters, and a rail line to market, turned a quiet cotton settlement into a place that would call itself the Strawberry Capital of Texas. Today only a few dozen growers remain, most farming small plots, but the identity they built a century ago still defines the town, its festival, and its water tower. (Source: Handbook of Texas; Texas Highways.)

RoadyGoat →

Battle of Medina

1813

Texas' bloodiest military engagement -- the Battle of Medina -- may have taken place in this general vicinity in 1813. The early 19th century was a time of political upheaval, and in 1812, while the U.S. was at war with England, Spain faced revolts throughout Latin America, including Mexico. In this revolutionary climate, Americans and others began efforts to influence the fate of Mexico, of which Texas was a province. Bernardo Gutiérrez and Lt. A.W. Magee marched from Louisiana to Texas in 1812 with their Republican Army of the North. Capturing Nacogdoches and Trinidad, they moved on to Presidio La Bahía, where they survived a four-month siege by Spanish governors and their Royalist forces. The Royalists retreated toward San Antonio in February 1813, and in March the Republican Army followed them and was ambushed in the Battle of Rosillo. The Republicans persevered, captured San Antonio and executed the Spanish governors. Gutiérrez's new Republic of Texas, with its green flag, was marked by internal political problems. Spain sent troops under Gen. Joaquín de Arredondo to retake Texas. Among his men was Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, later Mexico's leader during the Texas Revolution. The Republicans marched from San Antonio on Aug. 15, 1813 with about 1,400 troops: American volunteers, Tejanos, Mexicans and Native Americans. Led across the plains south of the Medina River, the fatigued army faced Spanish troops on Aug. 18 and was soundly defeated. Fewer than 100 escaped; most were executed. The Spanish left the decimated Texans on the battlefield and proceeded to San Antonio to punish citizens who supported independence. Eight years later, Mexican leaders ordered the remains of the fallen soldiers to be buried under an oak tree on the battlefield. Although the exact site of the battle has yet to be determined archeologically, the story remains an important part of Texas history. (2005)

Historical Marker → · 4.8 mi away

Long, Hubert

1958

Hubert Long, country music promoter and talent agent, was born in Poteet, Texas, on December 3, 1923. He grew up in Freer and Corpus Christi. He worked in the record department of a Corpus Christi dime store and entered the production end of the music industry when he took a job at Decca Records in San Antonio. Long followed his Decca boss to RCA Victor in Houston, where he met music promoter Col. Tom Parker. Parker put Long in charge of publicity for Eddy Arnold, whom Long is credited with having promoted to superstardom. This marked the real beginning of Long's career as a music promoter. He came into his own professionally in the early 1950s when, as manager of the Louisiana Hayride , he signed Faron Young and Webb Pierce to management contracts. Long founded the Hubert Long Agency in 1952. He further increased his influence as a talent agent when he founded the independent talent agency Stable of Stars in 1955. Over the course of his career, he expanded his interests to include advertising, real estate, and the famous Moss Rose music publishing house, among other ventures. Country music suffered in 1958, as rock-and-roll began to compete with it. Long and others sought to strengthen country music's presence in the commercial music market. On August 14, 1958, Long took part in a meeting that led to the chartering of the Country Music Association, an organization devoted to the promotion of country music. The CMA replaced the floundering Country Music Disc Jockey Association as the only non-profit group working to advance country music. Long served as secretary when the CMA opened in Nashville on December 8, 1958. He went on to serve as president of the CMA in 1968 and as chairman in 1972. Since its charter in 1958, the CMA has grown from 233 members to more than 6,000 in forty-three countries. Whether he managed them, sold their songs, promoted their shows, or fought for them through the CMA, Hubert Long touched the lives of countless country musicians. He died on September 7, 1972. The CMA posthumously elected him into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1979.

Tsha Handbook →

Poteet

1880

The town of Poteet traces its history to the 1880s, when Francis Marion Poteet (1833-1907) established a mercantile store northeast of this area. A blacksmith and farmer as well as a merchant, Poteet began providing mail service to his customers. Poteet sold his business to Henry T. Mumme (1870-1947) before 1900. Mumme continued to offer postal service at the store, and in 1910 he and his wife Ida (1869-1942) donated 400 acres of land for a new townsite. Since the area had been referred to as Poteet as a result of the early mail service, the new town was named in honor of Francis Marion Poteet. Mumme moved his store to the new townsite in 1911. Mumme drilled the town's first artesian water well and is credited with introducing the cultivation of strawberries here. The artesian water, together with the sandy soil of the region, proved ideal for growing the berries. Known statewide for its superior quality strawberries, Poteet has been nicknamed the "Strawberry Capital of Texas." The town grew steadily after 1910, with the establishment of schools, churches, homes, and businesses. It was incorporated in 1926. (1989)

Historical Marker →

Amphion and Amphion Cemetery

1857

Amphion traces its beginning to the establishment of Atascosa County's first courthouse which is believed to have been constructed near this site at the county seat of Navatasco in 1857. Amphion, thought to have been named after a figure in Greek mythology, was located within the 17,000-acre ranch of Jose Antonio Navarro, a prominent local rancher and signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. Amphion was at one time a thriving community with several general stores, a hotel, post office, blacksmith shop, cotton gin, tannery, churches, fraternal lodges and a school. Amphion Cemetery was established about 1870 at this site on land donated by Roy Jenkins and Frank Lozano. Although the earliest recorded gravesite is that of Laura Underwood (d.1891) there is a gravestone with the year 1800 inscribed on its surface that local tradition claims marks the grave of a young boy killed by indians. This cemetery contains the graves of at least two veterans of the American Civil War. When railroad lines were built through Atascosa County in 1907 and 1927 along routes that bypassed Amphion, business activity declined and the community eventually dissolved. Virtually all that remains of the former town of Amphion is this cemetery. (1992)

Historical Marker → · 4.8 mi away

Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund

1966

The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund has represented Mexican Americans in civil-rights lawsuits since it was incorporated in Texas in 1967. The pivotal moment in its founding occurred in a Jourdanton, Texas, courtroom in June 1966. Attorney Pete Tijerina, representing a Mexican American female client in a lawsuit against an Anglo, faced an initial jury pool with no Mexican Americans. A second jury pool on August 1, 1966, yielded only two Spanish-surnamed jurors, one who was deceased and another who did not speak English. Tijerina won his case; however, he obtained only a portion of the money he believed was fair for his client, who had suffered an amputated leg in a car accident caused by the Anglo defendant. Tijerina believed the jury selection process determined the low monetary outcome of the case. After this experience, he set out with fellow Mexican-American attorneys and Jack Greenberg of the Legal Defense and Educational Fund of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to organize a legal entity through which Mexican Americans would challenge discrimination in the courts, education, employment, and immigration. Tijerina both cofounded and served as the fund's first executive director, and Mario Obledo , a former state director of the League of United Latin American Citizens , was its first general counsel. Its first national office was in San Antonio. A board of directors was established to oversee the organization. In 1968 Tijerina, with the assistance of the Legal Defense and Educational Fund of the NAACP, obtained a $2,250,000 five-year grant from the Ford Foundation to implement "litigation and general education activities." MALDEF's areas of interest included litigation in education, employment, and police-brutality cases. The fund also conducted research and published documents on the legal rights of Mexican Americans and disseminated a newsletter, MALDEF . The Ford grant provided scholarship money to educate more Mexican-American lawyers. At first non-Hispanic lawyers made up a sizable portion of MALDEF staff and cooperating attorneys. In its first three years, MALDEF floundered in its attempts to file constitutionally significant lawsuits and was inundated with routine legal-aid cases that could be resolved outside the courts. In addition to its difficulty in gaining traction, some of its San Antonio staff were deemed "militant," a perception that caused the Ford Foundation to recommend moving the headquarters out of the state and replacing Tijerina as executive director. MALDEF chose San Francisco, California, as its new headquarters and selected Mario Obledo as executive director and general counsel. The national office was subsequently moved to Los Angeles, California, and continued to maintain a regional branch in San Antonio. Later, it added regional branches in Atlanta, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. Under Obledo's direction, MALDEF began to work on employment discrimination cases with the NAACP legal office. He improved the national standing of the organization by involving it in Supreme Court cases through friend-of-the-court briefs, sometimes filed in conjunction with other organizations. In 1973, when the case of Demetrio Rodríguez et al. v. San Antonio Independent School District was tried before the United States Supreme Court, civil-rights proponents suffered a major defeat when the court ruled against equal financing of education. Though not a MALDEF case, the decision had significant bearing on MALDEF's legal strategies. That same year MALDEF achieved its first successful litigation before the Supreme Court in the case of White, et al. v. Regester, et al. , which resulted in the implementation of single-member districts and served as a precedent for Texas county, city council, and school board districts. This litigation was instrumental in eventually bringing Texas into compliance with the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which required the federal approval o

Tsha Handbook → · 9.2 mi away

Things to Do in Poteet

historical 22.7 mi away
Mission San José

The queen of the missions -- San Jose y San Miguel de Aguayo -- was founded in 1720 just south of San Antonio and quickly became the largest wealthiest and…
spooky 19.1 mi away
Donkey Lady Bridge

A disfigured woman with melted fingers resembling hooves is said to haunt this bridge over Elm Creek south of San Antonio. Visitors report screaming and…

Everything Near Poteet

203 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the nearest 200 are listed here — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

  • Poteet, TX · 0.3 mi

    A notable landmark in Poteet is the mosaic of Poteet Canyon, which stands in front of the town's fire station. This artwork is named after the town and is inspired by the long-running comic strip by Milton Caniff,…

  • First Baptist Church of Poteet · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of Poteet. Settlers gathered in homes for worship before 1856, then met at Shiloh on Borrego Creek. The church officially organized in June 1856 with ten members.

  • Where the King of Country Was Born · 0.5 mi

    Country music's reigning King got his start in this strawberry town. George Harvey Strait was born in Poteet on May 18, 1952, the son of John and Doris Strait, before the family settled in nearby Pearsall, where his…

  • How a Cotton Town Became the Strawberry Capital · 0.5 mi

    Poteet wasn't always berry country. For decades cotton ruled these fields, and the town stayed small until the railroad and the water changed everything. Storekeeper Henry Mumme discovered artesian wells here around…

  • The Godfather of Tejano Started Here · 0.5 mi

    Poteet's musical roots run deeper than its one famous son. David Lee Garza, the accordionist and bandleader often called the Godfather of Tejano, was born here on February 15, 1957. He picked up the accordion at age…

  • Poteet, TX · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Poteet, a town that owes its existence to a lucky find. Back in 1904, Henry Mumme, who'd taken over as postmaster, discovered artesian wells right here. This discovery, prompted by a drought that…

  • The Blacksmith Whose Mail Run Named the Town · 0.5 mi

    The town you're rolling into carries the name of the man who handled its mail before it was even a town. Francis Marion Poteet, born in 1833, brought his family to this corner of Atascosa County after leaving the…

  • A 1,600-Pound Strawberry and a Berry on a Water Tower · 0.5 mi

    There's no missing what Poteet is proud of. Out front of the fire department sits a seven-foot-tall, 1,600-pound concrete strawberry mounted on a pedestal, its base reading Poteet, Strawberry Capital of Texas, a gift to…

  • The Comic-Strip Girl Named After the Town · 0.5 mi

    In the 1950s this tiny strawberry town got an unlikely shot of nationwide fame from the funny pages. Cartoonist Milton Caniff, creator of the wildly popular Steve Canyon comic strip, named a character after Poteet: a…

  • Why Strawberries Love Poteet's Sandy Ground · 0.5 mi

    Poteet's whole identity rests on a quirk of dirt and timing. The fields here are wrapped in fine sandy loam, a soil that's medium to slightly acidic, which happens to be exactly what strawberry roots crave. Just as…

  • Long, Hubert · 0.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Hubert Long, country music promoter and talent agent, was born in Poteet, Texas, on December 3, 1923. He grew up in Freer and Corpus Christi. He worked in the record department of a Corpus Christi dime store and entered…

  • Strawberry Wine Made From the Town's Own Berries · 0.5 mi

    If you want to actually taste what Poteet grows, point the car toward 400 Tank Hollow Road, where Poteet Country Winery turns the local harvest into bottles. Their signature pour is exactly what you'd hope for in the…

Show all 200 nearby places
  • Hooge Hill · 0.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the area known as Hooge Hill, a place that was once a bustling hub for produce and community. In 1917, Anna Ripps and Petrus Hooge established their homestead and a grocery store here. They were…

  • Poteet · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker

    The town of Poteet traces its history to the 1880s, when Francis Marion Poteet (1833-1907) established a mercantile store northeast of this area. A blacksmith and farmer as well as a merchant, Poteet began providing…

  • The Festival Born to Bring the Veterans Back to Farming · 1.0 mi

    The party that put Poteet on the map started with a practical worry. After World War II, the Poteet Rotary Club fretted that returning veterans wouldn't go back to the strawberry fields, so in April 1948 they threw a…

  • Poteet's Strawberry Festival Grounds · 1.0 mi

    These hundred and six acres just north of town are the Poteet Strawberry Festival grounds, home to one of South Texas's biggest parties. The festival started in 1948, when the Poteet Rotary Club threw a small strawberry…

  • Where the Poteets Are Buried · 1.7 mi

    A few miles outside town at Rutledge Cemetery lies the family that gave this place its name. Francis Marion Poteet, the blacksmith-postmaster who started it all, died in 1907 and rests here, and the State of Texas…

  • Atascosa County, TX · 2.0 mi

    Atascosa County is characterized by rolling hills and knolls, which slope to the southeast. The Atascosa River plays a crucial role in draining the county, exiting at its southeastern corner. The highest point in the…

  • Shiloh Cemetery · 3.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Shiloh Cemetery near Leming. The first burial here was in 1857, a fourteen-year-old named John Uzell. The land belonged to his relative, Isaac Cavender, who allowed other burials, and the…

  • Battle of Medina · 4.8 mi · Historical Marker

    Texas' bloodiest military engagement -- the Battle of Medina -- may have taken place in this general vicinity in 1813. The early 19th century was a time of political upheaval, and in 1812, while the U.S. was at war with…

  • Amphion and Amphion Cemetery · 4.8 mi · Historical Marker

    Amphion traces its beginning to the establishment of Atascosa County's first courthouse which is believed to have been constructed near this site at the county seat of Navatasco in 1857. Amphion, thought to have been…

  • The Festival That Built a Town · 5.0 mi

    In Poteet, everything revolves around one weekend in April. That’s when the Poteet Strawberry Festival takes over. But this is more than just a party; it’s a piece of living history. It all started in 1948. The town's…

  • The Science of a Poteet Strawberry · 5.0 mi

    The reason Poteet is the 'Strawberry Capital of Texas' isn't luck; it's a perfect combination of soil science, hydrology, and horticulture. As you look at the fields, notice the ground. It’s not dark clay; it’s a…

  • The 'Dilly-Dally' Railroad · 5.0 mi

    Poteet owes a lot to a shoestring railroad. The Artesian Belt was chartered in November of 1908 and opened the following September, running down from Macdona toward Christine through the country made famous by its…

  • The Highway Name That Took Seventy Years to Make Legal · 5.3 mi

    Every mile of U S Highway Two Eighty One inside Texas is the American Legion Memorial Highway, and the name is much older than the law behind it. On April thirtieth, nineteen thirty five, the Texas Highway Commission…

  • Navarro, Jose Antonio · 5.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past land once granted to Mission San Jose, but left unsettled until the 1820s. In 1828, Jose Antonio Navarro, a key figure in San Antonio and a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, asked the…

  • Benedictine Sisters · 6.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through South Texas, perhaps near San Antonio, and you might be passing by a place that owes its start to a group of determined women. In 1919, eight Benedictine Sisters arrived in Leming, a small town in…

  • Leming, TX · 6.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Leming, Texas, a town that owes its very name to a railroad man. Back in 1880, this place was known as Las Gallinas. But when P.B. Leming arrived around 1900 to oversee the San Antonio, Uvalde and…

  • The Engineering That Unlocked the Earth · 6.4 mi

    The recent boom that transformed Pleasanton was made possible by an incredible feat of engineering happening thousands of feet beneath your feet. The oil and gas here are trapped in a tight layer of rock called the…

  • Birthplace of the Cowboy · 6.4 mi

    You've probably heard of cowboys in places like Dodge City or on the Chisholm Trail. But Pleasanton's town motto makes a bold claim: 'Birthplace of the Cowboy.' Is it true? The history backs it up. Long before the…

  • Verdi · 6.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Verdi, a community that started as Lucas Community around 1855. Settlers from all over the South, and some of Spanish origin, called this place home. They built churches, schools, and a…

  • Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Pleasanton (Pleasanton) · 7.1 mi

    Pleasanton (Pleasanton, TX) placed on the 4A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Braysen Stevens (3 HR); Elijah Haren (2 HR).

  • Pleasanton, TX · 7.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Pleasanton, a town born out of conflict. Back in 1858, settlers moved the Atascosa County seat here to escape Indian raids, choosing this spot at the mouth of Bonita Creek. John Bowen donated…

  • St. Joseph's Catholic Church · 7.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Leming, a community that started forming along Gallinas Creek in the 1850s. In 1876, eight families, many of them Polish immigrants, established St. Joseph's Catholic Church, one of the earliest…

  • Capt. Peter F. Tumlinson · 7.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Atascosa County, passing the site of a Texas legend: Captain Peter Tumlinson. He followed his father, the first Texas Ranger killed in the line of duty, into service. For forty years, Tumlinson…

  • Pleasanton City Cemetery · 7.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Pleasanton, and just ahead is the City Cemetery, a place that's been telling the story of this community since 1865. It started as a simple family burial ground when Gustave B. Doak, just three years…

  • Cooper Chapter No. 101 Royal Arch Masons · 7.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Pleasanton, the site of Cooper Chapter No. 101, Royal Arch Masons. Chartered in 1871, the group met in various locations, including the Isaac Cooper home and over a general store, before their own…

  • Rossville · 7.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Atascosa County, passing the site of what was once Rossville. This was the very first Scottish community in all of southwest Texas. It all started in 1873 when brothers William and John Ross, who…

  • North Pleasanton · 7.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through what used to be North Pleasanton, a town born from the railroad in 1912. It was the division point for the San Antonio, Uvalde and Gulf line, complete with offices and machine shops. At its peak,…

  • Pleasanton Church of Christ · 7.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Pleasanton, where a Church of Christ congregation has been active since at least 1858. Around 1910, local women began holding services in their homes. By 1924, a small frame church building was…

  • First Presbyterian Church of Pleasanton · 7.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Pleasanton, where the First Presbyterian Church was established on March 29, 1914. Reverend N.H. Doggett organized the congregation, the first Presbyterian church in Atascosa County. They built their…

  • Brite Cemetery · 7.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Brite Cemetery in Leming, a final resting place for some of Texas's earliest settlers and soldiers. The earliest marked grave here is for an infant son, Dan, who died in 1854. But the cemetery was…

  • San Antonio, Uvalde and Gulf Railroad · 7.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the former heart of the San Antonio, Uvalde and Gulf Railroad, affectionately nicknamed 'The Sausage.' What started as the Crystal City and Uvalde Railroad in 1909, this line became vital for…

  • Thomas Ransdell Brite · 7.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Atascosa County, passing the site of Thomas Ransdell Brite's final home. Born in Missouri in 1824, Brite came to Texas as a teen and quickly volunteered for service in the Mexican invasions of the…

  • Robert E. Neill · 7.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Atascosa County, past the site of Robert E. Neill's final home. Born in Tennessee in 1827, Neill came to Texas as a child. A childhood injury crippled his left arm, but he still went on to serve…

  • The Town That Calls Itself the Birthplace of the Cowboy · 7.7 mi

    Pleasanton proudly calls itself the Birthplace of the Cowboy, a claim it stakes on the vaquero and longhorn heritage of the Atascosa River country. After the Civil War the county's herds exploded, from about twenty-nine…

  • John T. Lytle Points 3,500 Longhorns North Past Town · 7.7 mi

    In 1874 South Texas rancher John T. Lytle blazed what became the Great Western Cattle Trail, and it ran right past Pleasanton on the east bank of the Atascosa River. Lytle, born in Pennsylvania in 1844, moved to San…

  • A River Named for Getting Stuck in the Mud · 7.7 mi

    The Atascosa River that shaped Pleasanton carries a warning in its name. Atascosa comes from Spanish and means boggy or miry, from the verb atascar, to become stuck or bogged down. Spanish speakers were using the word…

  • The Cattle County That Sits on a Uranium Belt · 7.7 mi

    Under the ranchland around Pleasanton lies a very different resource: uranium. Atascosa County sits inside the South Texas Uranium Belt, a band of deposits arcing across the coastal plain. Beginning in the 1950s,…

  • Pleasanton, TX · 7.7 mi

    Pleasanton, Texas, that's a town synonymous with one thing: peanuts. You see the sandy soil here, that's what makes it perfect. It's not just that you *can* grow peanuts, it's that they thrive. This whole area, Atascosa…

  • John Bowen Lays Out a Town Between Two Waters · 7.7 mi

    Pleasanton was laid out in 1858 by John Bowen, remembered as San Antonio's first Anglo-American postmaster, who donated roughly five square miles for the townsite. He named the place for his friend and fellow early…

  • Dr. Ben and Mona Parker and KBOP Radio · 7.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're cruising through Pleasanton, and right around here, you might have heard the sounds of KBOP Radio. After World War II, the airwaves opened up, and in 1949, local rancher, preacher, and chiropractor Dr. Ben…

  • Old Rock Schoolhouse · 7.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Old Rock Schoolhouse, built way back in 1874. This place wasn't just for learning; it was a community hub. Constructed from local red sandstone, it was deeded to the county for free…

  • Pleasanton First United Methodist Church · 7.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Pleasanton, and right here, you're passing the site of the city's first United Methodist Church. This congregation actually got its start way back in 1857, a full year before Pleasanton itself was…

  • First Baptist Church of Pleasanton · 7.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Pleasanton, and right here is the site of the First Baptist Church. It all started on December 16, 1866, when seven members gathered to form the congregation. For years, they bounced around,…

  • Pleasanton · 7.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Pleasanton, a town that became a cattlemen's capital. Founded in 1858 by John Bowen, it was named for early settler John Pleasants. The first courthouse for Atascosa County stood right here. By…

  • George Washington Marion Duck · 7.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site where George Washington Marion Duck, a Kentucky transplant, settled in the 1850s. He quickly became a key figure in Atascosa County, serving as tax assessor and then sheriff for many years.…

  • Second Baptist Church of Pleasanton · 7.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Second Baptist Church in Pleasanton. Organized in 1891 as Saint James Baptist Church by Reverend James Ellis, it served the African American community. The congregation faced challenges,…

  • Rossville Cemetery · 8.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Rossville Cemetery, a resting place established by a land grant from a famous Texan. Jose Antonio Navarro, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, transferred land here to his son. In…

  • Site of San Augustine Church · 8.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Atascosa County, where a remarkable family history unfolded. The Esparza brothers—Manuel, Enrique, and Francisco—arrived here between 1850 and 1860. But their story goes back further, to the very…

  • Anchorage Cemetery · 8.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the historic Anchorage Cemetery, a place named by a former sea captain! In 1882, William and Mary Allen Stiggins, along with their daughter Mary Jane and her fiancé Thomas Whittet, arrived here from…

  • Jourdanton · 8.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Jourdanton, a town that owes its existence to a couple of ambitious ranchers and a railroad. Back in 1909, Jourdan Campbell and Theodore Zanderson established this community on Campbell's Toby Ranch.…

  • Ralph Roy Smith · 8.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Jourdanton, home of R. R. "Railroad" Smith. Born in 1880, Smith came to Atascosa County around 1907, opening a law practice and diving into the newspaper business. He was elected to the Texas House…

  • Jourdan Campbell · 8.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Jourdanton, a town named after the man who essentially built it: Jourdan Campbell. Campbell and his family arrived in Atascosa County around 1870. His father founded Campbellton, but Jourdan had…

  • Mercy Hospital · 8.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Jourdanton, a town that faced a critical moment in 1952, the bloodiest year in Atascosa County history, with thirteen fatalities from accidents. This tragedy spurred a massive community effort to…

  • Atascosa County Jail · 8.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the old Atascosa County Jail in Jourdanton. When the county seat moved here in 1910, officials first rented a house for a jail. But by 1915, they were ready for a proper,…

  • St. Matthew Catholic Parish · 8.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of St. Matthew Catholic Parish in Jourdanton. The original mission-style brick building was dedicated in 1912. A Catholic school opened here in 1937 but closed just three years later.

  • The Only One of Its Kind in Texas · 8.8 mi

    Of the roughly 250 Texas county courthouses, exactly one survives in the Mission Revival style, and it stands here. San Antonio architect Henry T. Phelps designed it, and the Gordon Jones Construction Company of San…

  • Atascosa County · 8.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Atascosa County, a place named for the boggy ground that made travel so difficult for early explorers. In fact, as far back as 1722, El Camino Real, the King's Highway from the Rio Grande to San…

  • Atascosa County Courthouse · 8.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Jourdanton, and right here is the Atascosa County Courthouse. It's seen a few homes over the years! The county was formed in 1856, and its first courthouse was just a log cabin. Later, they tried…

  • Martin Abstract Company · 8.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Jourdanton, where the ranching industry began to shift in the early 1900s. In 1909, George M. Martin founded the Martin Abstract Company to handle the growing real estate transactions. After a few…

  • Donated by a Declaration signer · 8.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the first Atascosa County Courthouse, right here in Jourdanton. It wasn't always this fancy building you might see today. In 1856, the county's first courthouse was a humble log cabin,…

  • Atascosa County Courthouse · 8.9 mi · Historical Marker

    This log cabin is a replica of first courthouse built 1856 near Amphion (Navatasco) 9 miles to the orthwest, on site given by Jose Antonio Navarro out of his 1828 grant from Coahuila and Texas. A signer of the Texas…

  • The Town Built for a Railroad Stop · 9.0 mi

    Jourdanton did not grow up around a crossroads. It was drawn on a blueprint. In 1907 rancher Jourdan Campbell and Colonel T.H. Zanderson bought the 33,760-acre Tobey Ranch, and in September 1909 they platted a town on…

  • Why They Called It the Artesian Belt · 9.0 mi

    The railroad that created Jourdanton was named the Artesian Belt for a reason buried underground. Beneath Atascosa County lies the Carrizo Sand, a thick layer of water-bearing sand sealed above and below by clay. Where…

  • Jourdanton United Methodist Church · 9.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Jourdanton, where the United Methodist Church formally organized in 1909, the same year the city was founded. Services started in a tent, with the first building constructed in 1910. The…

  • Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund · 9.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund has represented Mexican Americans in civil-rights lawsuits since it was incorporated in Texas in 1967. The pivotal moment in its founding occurred in a Jourdanton,…

  • Jourdanton, TX · 9.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Jourdanton, a town that sprang up from a blueprint. In September of 1909, Jourdan Campbell and Colonel T.H. Zanderson founded this community, designed specifically as a stop on the Artesian Belt…

  • First Baptist Church of Jourdanton · 9.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of Jourdanton. Seven residents organized this Baptist church in October 1909, just a month after Jourdanton was founded. They first met in the community…

  • Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Jourdanton (Jourdanton) · 9.5 mi

    Jourdanton (Jourdanton, TX) placed on the 3A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Cameron Perez (2 HR); Chris Montez (2 HR).

  • Trooper Terry Wayne Miller Memorial Highway · 9.5 mi · Historical Marker

    Interstate Thirty Seven in Atascosa County, from mile marker one oh two to one fifteen, skirting the east side of Pleasanton, is named for Trooper Terry Wayne Miller, who was stationed in Pleasanton. One night in…

  • Jourdanton City Cemetery · 9.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Jourdanton, a town that sprung up fast thanks to the railroad. Back in 1907, T. H. Zanderson and Jourdan Campbell bought up a huge ranch and laid out this town, even setting aside land for a…

  • Jourdanton I.S.D · 9.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Jourdanton Independent School District, the first in Atascosa County. Authorized by the state legislature in 1911, it started with a bond for a new school and park system. Over the…

  • Edward Brown · 9.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Atascosa County, passing the site of a man who saw major Texas history unfold. Edward Brown fought in the Texas Revolution and later in the U.S.-Mexico War. He was even captured by Mexican forces…

  • Unlocking the Eagle Ford Shale · 9.9 mi

    As you drive around Jourdanton, much of the recent development you see is thanks to a breakthrough in science and engineering that happened deep underground. For decades, geologists knew that a rock layer called the…

  • The Railroad Built to Sell a Town · 9.9 mi

    A railroad is usually built to serve a town that already exists. Around Jourdanton it worked the other way. The Artesian Belt Railroad was chartered in November of 1908 to open up the land holdings of a promoter named…

  • Highway One Seventy Three and Westmoreland's Fire Brigade · 10.4 mi

    State Highway One Seventy Three, from near Kerrville down to near Jourdanton, is the One Seventy Third Airborne Brigade Memorial Highway. The highway and the brigade share a number. Texas lawmakers passed the…

  • Medina, Battle of · 10.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Central Texas, near the Atascosa River, and right here on August 18, <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1813</say-as>, the bloodiest battle ever fought on Texas soil took place. It was the…

  • Esparza, Enrique · 10.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Atascosa County, near Losoya, and right here is the resting place of Enrique Esparza. He was just a boy, maybe ten years old, when he witnessed the fall of the Alamo. His father died defending it,…

  • Rancho del Atascoso · 10.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Atascosa County, not far from Pleasanton and Poteet, on land that was once Rancho del Atascoso. In 1768, Fray Gaspár José de Solís visited this sprawling ranch, finding 1,500 head of cattle, 5,000…

  • Ditto, TX · 10.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Ditto is on the Atascosa River five miles northwest of Poteet in northern Atascosa County. Before it got a post office the community went by the name of Agua Negra, which referred to the dark water that came out of a…

  • Cantú, Maria Margarita Contreras · 10.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Maria Margarita Contreras Cantú, desegregation activist and community leader, was born on March 30, 1914, to Pablo Herrera Contreras and Martha (Romo) Contreras in Campbellton, Atascosa County, Texas. She married Manuel…

  • Atascosa County · 10.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Atascosa County, a place named 'boggy' by the Spanish way back in 1788. For thousands of years, Native Americans lived here, but Spanish explorers arrived in the 1500s, followed by Mexican…

  • Espey, TX · 10.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Espey is a small rural community located on U.S. Highway 281 about ten miles north of Pleasanton in northern Atascosa County. The settlement received its name from the Espey family who came to the area in the early…

  • Fashing, TX · 10.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Fashing is at the junction of Farm roads 2924 and 99, twenty-nine miles southeast of Jourdanton in southeastern Atascosa County. In 1916 the 5,500-acre Hickok Ranch was subdivided into farms. The surrounding area had…

  • Old Rock Church, TX · 10.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Old Rock Church, also known as Old Rock Baptist Church, is east of Farm Road 476 and seven miles southeast of Lytle in far northwestern Atascosa County. The congregation that built it came to the site from Medina…

  • Rossville, TX · 10.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Rossville is on Farm Road 476 eight miles west of Poteet in Atascosa County. Col. José Antonio Navarro , once owner of the area, partitioned his land and bequeathed the tract on both sides of the Atascosa River that…

  • Metate Creek · 10.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Atascosa County, and right here, a creek bears a name with a story. Metate Creek, and its eastern branch, are named for the Spanish word for a grinding stone. Likely, these stones, or a place…

  • San Augustine, TX (Atascosa County) · 10.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Atascosa County, and you might be passing near the site of San Augustine. This community was founded in 1869, when Catholic nuns arrived to teach in an adobe schoolhouse built by local residents.…

  • Amphion, TX · 10.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Amphion is nine miles northwest of Pleasanton in west central Atascosa County, just east of Ranch Road 2146. The majority of settlers came to the site in the late 1880s. Some have claimed that Amphion was the first…

  • Campbellton, TX · 10.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Campbellton is on U.S. Highway 281A, Farm Road 1099, and the Atascosa River twelve miles east of Christine in southeast Atascosa County. It is named for John F. Campbell, who came to Texas in 1855 from Ireland to…

  • Coughran, TX · 10.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Coughran was four miles southeast of Pleasanton near the termination of Farm Road 1334 and the Missouri Pacific line in east central Atascosa County. The settlement was named for W. A. "Abe" Coughran, who in 1912 began…

  • Dobrowolski, TX · 10.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Dobrowolski was on State Highway 97 six miles southwest of Jourdanton in west central Atascosa County. The settlement, originally called Tobey (Toby), had a post office from 1894 until 1919 and was still indicated on…

  • Hindes, TX · 10.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Hindes is just east of State Highway 95 four miles from the Frio county line in southwest Atascosa County. It was named for George F. Hindes, a local rancher who settled there in 1856 and donated land for the San…

  • La Parita, TX · 10.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    La Parita is just east of Farm Road 1332 and seven miles southeast of Charlotte in west central Atascosa County. It is named for the La Parita School, which was established in that area in 1875 and was then abandoned in…

  • Verdi, TX · 10.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Verdi is a farming community just west of Farm Road 1784 and eight miles northeast of Pleasanton in northeastern Atascosa County. The Lucas School, the first school in Atascosa County, opened in 1860 at Lucas Creek,…

  • Trooper Terry Wayne Miller Memorial Highway · 10.9 mi · Historical Marker

    Honors TX DPS Trooper Terry Wayne Miller, killed 1999 in a sniper ambush on I-37 in Atascosa County while responding to assist two deputies who had already been shot.

  • Sand Branch Baptist Church · 11.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Rossville, past the site of the Sand Branch Baptist Church. It all began under a tree near here on August 27th, 1882, with just twelve members. Their first pastor was Elder C.B. Hukill. For a…

  • Rambie-Lewis Family Cemetery · 11.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Rambie-Lewis Family Cemetery. This family cemetery, consisting of three graves, is a physical reminder of the hardships faced by 19th century pioneer families. Aaron Rambie, a Pennsylvania native who…

  • Coughran · 11.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Coughran, a town that sprang up thanks to a railroad deal. W.A. Coughran bought this land in 1901 and convinced the San Antonio, Uvalde and Gulf Railroad to lay tracks right through it.…

  • The Poor Man's Oil Field · 11.9 mi

    When oil was struck here in 1913, it wasn't a gusher that made headlines around the world. Carl Kurz wasn't even looking for oil — he was drilling for artesian water. What he found was something different: oil sitting…

  • Drilling for 'Shallow' Gold · 11.9 mi

    The Somerset oil boom was a direct result of specific geology and the simple engineering it allowed. The oil here wasn't miles down; it sat in shallow porous sand only about 1,400 feet below the surface, and the field…

  • Somerset, TX · 11.9 mi

    Somerset's history is marked by significant economic shifts. In 1913, Carl Kurz struck oil while drilling for artesian water, leading to an economic boom. The Somerset oilfield became the largest known shallow field in…

  • The Macaroni Line · 11.9 mi

    Somerset owes its existence to a railroad that no longer runs — the Artesian Belt. It was chartered on the seventeenth of November, 1908, and it was never really about hauling other people's freight. It was chartered in…

  • The Man Who Built a Town · 11.9 mi

    Somerset didn't happen by accident. In 1909, three men — A. M. Pyron, Carl Kurz and Jonas A. Kerr — laid a town out along the right-of-way of the Artesian Belt Railroad, timing it so the new community would have rails…

  • Old Rock Baptist Church · 12.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Old Rock Baptist Church, a place with roots stretching back to 1857. Originally organized as Medina Baptist Church near Macdona, services were held in homes and schoolhouses until members…

  • Battle of Medina · 12.4 mi · Historical Marker

    The bloodiest battle ever fought on Texas soil is one almost nobody has heard of, and historians still aren't sure exactly where it happened. In August of 1813, twenty-three years before the Alamo, a republican army of…

  • DeVilbiss, The Rev. John Wesley · 12.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're cruising through San Antonio, and right here is where a man named John Wesley DeVilbiss laid the groundwork for a whole lot of harmony. He arrived in Texas back in 1842, riding the circuit and ministering to both…

  • Oak Island Methodist Church and Cemetery · 12.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through San Antonio, near where Reverend John Wesly DeVilbliss, a circuit rider, arrived in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1842</say-as>. He ministered to immigrants and native Texians, promoting…

  • Drilling for Water, They Struck Oil · 13.6 mi

    In 1913, town founder Carl Kurz sank a bore looking for artesian water and hit oil instead. That accident opened the Somerset field, which ran south toward Pleasanton and was called the largest known shallow field in…

  • Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Somerset (Somerset) · 13.6 mi

    Somerset (Somerset, TX) placed on the 4A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Josiah Gonzales (0.478 avg).

  • The Town That Moved to Meet a Railroad · 13.6 mi

    Somerset carries a Kentucky name. In 1848, Baptist families from Somerset, Kentucky, started a settlement about three miles south of here, in what is now Atascosa County. That first village is remembered as Old…

  • From Cotton Rows to a Growers Exchange · 13.6 mi

    Oil grabbed the headlines, but many Somerset families lived off the soil. During the 1920s, local farmers turned away from cotton toward dryland fruit and vegetable farming, the kind of small-scale produce raising known…

  • Bexar, TX · 13.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving past what used to be Bexar, Texas, also known as La Colorada. It started in 1854 when John Kinney settled here. By the 1880s, the Kinney family was mining coal, hauling it to San Antonio by ox-cart. The…

  • Somerset, TX · 13.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving southwest of San Antonio, and right here is Somerset. This town got its start in 1909 when the First Townsite Company laid out the land along the Artesian Belt Railroad. But the real boom came in 1913,…

  • Mann's Crossing, TX · 13.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Mann’s Crossing is at the intersection of Old Pearsall Road and the Medina River in southwest Bexar County. It is named after the Mann family who immigrated to Texas from Alsace-Lorraine as part of the original Henri…

  • Donkey Lady Bridge · 14.0 mi

    On Old Applewhite Road, south of San Antonio, a one-lane bridge built in nineteen-seventeen crosses the Medina River. It's been closed to cars since two-thousand-five and folded into the Medina River Greenway, but…

  • From the South Side to Congress · 14.1 mi

    U.S. Highway Two Eighty One, from Loop Four Ten to the Atascosa County line, is the Congressman Frank M. Tejeda Memorial Highway, named by the Texas Legislature in nineteen ninety seven. Tejeda grew up poor on San…

  • Brummett Cemetery · 14.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Brummett Cemetery, a resting place for pioneers and descendants of the Texas Revolution. Look for the grave of James Washington Winters, a veteran of the Battle of San Jacinto, who lived from…

  • The Battle of the Medina · 14.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of a brutal battle that ended an early bid for Texas independence. On August 18, 1813, the Battle of the Medina raged right here. General Jose Joaquin Arredondo's Spanish royalist army met…

  • Engineering the Eagle Ford Boom · 14.9 mi

    The recent boom that transformed Charlotte wasn't just about finding oil; it was about incredible engineering. For decades, geologists knew a layer of rock called the Eagle Ford Shale, located two miles down, was rich…

  • El Carmen Cemetery (Cementerio del Carmen) · 14.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past El Carmen Cemetery, a place with roots stretching back to a pivotal battle for Texas independence. On August 18th, 1813, the Battle of the Medina River raged. A Republican Army of the North, fighting…

  • Esparza, Enrique · 14.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site where a young boy named Enrique Esparza witnessed one of Texas's most famous battles. He was just 11 years old during the Siege of the Alamo, hiding in a hay pile with his family. From…

  • Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Charlotte (Charlotte) · 14.9 mi

    Charlotte (Charlotte, TX) placed on the 2A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Josh Gaitan (0.531 avg, 8 HR).

  • The 'Sausage' Railroad · 14.9 mi

    The railroad that gave birth to Charlotte had a funny nickname: the 'Sausage.' Its official name was the San Antonio, Uvalde and Gulf Railroad, and locals quickly turned the initials—S.A.U. & G.—into a nickname that…

  • The First Oil Boom · 14.9 mi

    Long before the recent shale boom, Charlotte had its first wild ride with oil. In the 1930s and ‘40s, wildcatters discovered major oil fields nearby, including the Imogene field. Suddenly, the quiet agricultural town…

  • Charlotte, TX · 15.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Charlotte, Texas, a town literally built like a wagon wheel. Back in 1910, J.F. Edwards laid out the townsite with streets radiating from a central hub, just like the spokes of a wheel. This…

  • Charlotte, TX · 15.1 mi

    Charlotte, Texas, has a significant place in the history of civil rights in the state. In 1928, a pivotal moment occurred when Felipe Vela filed the first official legal complaint against racial segregation for Mexicans…

  • How the Purple Heart Trail Grew Across Texas · 15.1 mi

    This highway is part of the Purple Heart Trail, a symbolic trail that runs through all fifty states to honor those killed or wounded in combat while serving in the armed forces. In Texas it started with one road. In two…

  • Fairview Methodist Church · 15.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Fairview, Texas, where this Methodist church has seen its share of storms, both literal and figurative. Organized before 1876, services were held in a schoolhouse until a building site was donated.…

  • The Jar of Black Beans · 15.3 mi

    The Bigfoot, Texas, sign carries this man's name, so here's the chapter that turned Wallace into a legend. In eighteen forty-two he joined the Mier Expedition, a ragtag Texan raid across the Rio Grande that ended in…

  • Now, About the Other Bigfoot · 15.3 mi

    You're passing through Bigfoot, Texas, a town named for a Ranger, not the creature in the woods. But the name begs the obvious question, so let's talk about that other Bigfoot for a minute. Here's a twist most people…

  • One Minute of Film, Sixty Years of Doubt · 15.3 mi

    You're rolling through Bigfoot, Texas, a town named for a Texas Ranger, not the creature. But that shared name earns the famous twin a detour, so here it is. The single most famous piece of Bigfoot evidence is a short…

  • Named for a Ranger, Not a Monster · 15.3 mi

    Here's a town name that sends every imagination straight to the wrong place. Bigfoot, Texas, sitting in northeastern Frio County about eighteen miles northeast of Pearsall, has nothing to do with a hairy giant in the…

  • How a Man Got Called Bigfoot · 15.3 mi

    Here in Bigfoot, Texas, the town wears a Ranger's old nickname, so where did a grown man pick up a name like Bigfoot? William Alexander Anderson Wallace was born in Lexington, Virginia, in eighteen seventeen, and he…

  • Twenty-Seven Eggs and a Best Seller · 15.3 mi

    That name on the Bigfoot, Texas, sign belonged to a man who kept living the kind of life that writes itself into tall tales. After the war Wallace drove a mail hack across the brutal run from San Antonio to El Paso, and…

  • Pull On One Small Name · 15.3 mi

    So pull on this one short town name and look at everything it holds. It holds a Virginia-born Ranger who came to Texas for revenge and stayed to become a folk hero. It holds a jar of beans that decided who lived and who…

  • Standing in the Cold Country · 15.3 mi

    Look at where you're standing for a second. Bigfoot sits in Frio County, and Frio is simply the Spanish word for cold. The county takes the name from the Frio River, which early travelers named for its clear, cool,…

  • Fairview · 15.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through what used to be Fairview, a community that sprang up right after the Civil War. Henry Hudson opened a store here in the late 1860s, and soon a post office followed. Fairview grew into a bustling…

  • Ruiz-Herrera Cemetery · 15.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Ruiz-Herrera Cemetery, a final resting place for some real Texas heroes. It started in the 1840s and is still used today by the families who founded this area. Look for the graves of Francisco…

  • Benton City Institute · 16.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Benton City Institute, a school that shaped young minds right here in Atascosa County. The building went up in 1875, and the very next year, the Masons bought the top floor. Educators…

  • Bigfoot Wallace · 16.5 mi · Historical Marker

    William Alexander Anderson Wallace came to Texas in 1837 to avenge a brother killed at Goliad and stayed for sixty years. He stood six foot two in an era when that was giant, wore moccasins his entire life because boots…

  • Enoch Jones Farmstead · 16.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Enoch Jones Farmstead, also known as the "Castle on the Medina." Enoch Jones, a nationally known engineer from Ohio, purchased this land in 1837, though he didn't permanently move to Texas until…

  • The Count Who Left a Misspelled Name Behind · 16.9 mi

    This town on the Medina River carries a nobleman's name, spelled wrong. The old limestone mansion here, called the Castle on the Medina, was built in 1861 by San Antonio merchant Enoch Jones. In 1886 an Austrian…

  • The Bloodiest Battle in Texas · 16.9 mi

    Somewhere in the woods and fields around you lies the site of the Battle of Medina, the deadliest battle ever fought on Texas soil. In August 1813, a group of about 1,400 revolutionaries—Tejanos, Anglo-Americans, and…

  • The Fight to Create Von Ormy · 16.9 mi

    The city of Von Ormy is one of the youngest in Texas, and its birth was anything but quiet. In the mid-2000s, as San Antonio grew south, residents here faced the prospect of being annexed. A small group, led by a young…

  • One River Crossing, Three Centuries of Traffic · 16.9 mi

    For well over a century, travelers have funneled across the Medina River near this one spot. In 1850 a man named Miguel de la Garza ran a ferry here to serve the new San Antonio to Laredo stagecoach line, and the ford…

  • The Little City That Voted Its Property Tax to Zero · 16.9 mi

    Von Ormy is tiny, but it ran a governing experiment that drew national attention. Voters approved incorporating the city in May 2008, about eighty eight percent in favor, partly to avoid being annexed by San Antonio.…

  • Crossing the Medina: From Ford to Freeway · 16.9 mi

    The spot where you're crossing the Medina River is a hundred and forty years of bridge-building stacked in one place. The river set the problem: it floods fast and hard. For generations the answer was Garza's Crossing —…

  • Eight Thousand Years Beside the Medina · 16.9 mi

    The freeway and the town are recent. Human life on this riverbank is not. Archaeological findings show that people have lived in the Von Ormy area for an estimated eight thousand years, long before any road or rail…

  • The Royal Road Through Town · 16.9 mi

    The interstate you're on follows a path that is centuries old. You're traveling along the corridor of the Camino Real de los Tejas, the 'Royal Road' that was the main highway from Mexico to Louisiana during the Spanish…

  • Von Ormy, TX · 16.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Von Ormy, Texas, a town with a name that sounds like royalty, and you'd be right. It all started back in 1861 when Enoch Jones built a grand home here, overlooking the Medina River. It was called…

  • Benton City Cemetery · 16.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Benton City Cemetery, established back in 1870. This was the first public burial ground for a community that, in its day, boasted a great school, busy businesses, and its own newspaper, the Benton…

  • Winters, James Washington, Jr. · 17.1 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through South Texas, perhaps near Bigfoot, and you might be passing the resting place of a San Jacinto veteran. James Washington Winters, Jr., was just 19 when he joined Captain William Ware's company in…

  • Bigfoot, TX · 17.1 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Bigfoot, Texas, a community named for a legendary Texas frontiersman. In 1883, James Connally secured a post office for this spot, then known as Connally's Store. He decided to rename it Bigfoot,…

  • Bigfoot, TX · 17.4 mi

    The drought of '56 is still a shadow hanging over Bigfoot. Folks who lived through it, they remember the dust turning everything brown, the Frio River shrinking to a trickle. Ranchers had to sell off cattle they…

  • The Calaveras Wreck of 1890 · 17.6 mi

    As you pass the railroad tracks, you're near the setting of the most famous legend on San Antonio's South Side, just up the road at the crossing of Shane and Villamain. The story goes back to the nineteen thirties, when…

  • Black Gold Near Elmendorf · 17.6 mi

    Elmendorf was built out of the ground it stands on, but not the way you'd guess. The town dates to 1885 and takes its name from Henry Elmendorf, a former mayor of San Antonio and the promoter of the first brick plant.…

  • Elmendorf, TX · 17.6 mi

    Elmendorf, a city with a rich history, was founded in 1885. It was named after Henry Elmendorf, a former mayor of San Antonio and a German-Texan. This city has been a part of the San Antonio—New Braunfels metropolitan…

  • James Washington Winters · 17.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Bigfoot, Texas, the final resting place of James Washington Winters. Born in Tennessee in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1817</say-as>, Winters fought for Texas independence as a veteran of…

  • William Alexander A. Wallace · 17.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Bigfoot, Texas, the stomping grounds of William Alexander Wallace, better known as Big Foot Wallace. He was a true defender of Texas, serving as a soldier, ranger, and mailrider, always protecting…

  • Refused allegiance to the Confederacy · 18.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Bigfoot area, where James Washington Winters lived. He fought in the Texas Revolution at San Jacinto and later served as a scout and Provost Marshall. Refusing to swear allegiance to the…

  • James Washington Winters · 18.0 mi · Historical Marker

    San Jacinto veteran, went on Somervell Expedition. Loyal to former general Sam Houston, did not sign Oath of Allegiance to the Confederate States at Oakville, July 4, 1861. Capt. 29th Brig. T.S.M., Provost Marshall,…

  • Spanish and Mexican Land Grants · 18.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through San Antonio on land that's seen centuries of history. This area, once home to Native Americans, was part of Spanish and Mexican land grants, and even a route for El Camino Real. The earliest grant…

  • Christine, TX · 18.2 mi

    In 1910, the town of New Artesia was on the brink of incorporation, but a naming conflict with another town in West Texas led to a change. The town's men, unable to decide on a new name, entrusted the task to their…

  • The Story of 'The Sausage' Railroad · 18.2 mi

    The lifeline that created Christine is gone now, but you can still trace it. And it wasn't the old 'Sausage' — that nickname belonged to the San Antonio, Uvalde and Gulf, over west through Charlotte. Christine's…

  • Simmons, Charles Franklin · 18.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Charles Franklin Simmons, rancher and land promoter, was born Calvin Franklin Simmons in Iuka, Mississippi, on September 27, 1853, one of three sons of Dr. M. A. Simmons, inventor of Dr. M. A. Simmons's Vegetable Liver…

  • Trimble Cemetery · 18.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Trimble Cemetery, a final resting place for folks who met untimely ends. Edwin Trimble himself died here from a snakebite in 1869. His wife Dorothy was killed by a robber. Later, young Grace Lytle…

  • Chilipitin Cemetery · 18.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through the area near Charlotte, and you might be passing the Chilipitin Cemetery. It started as a family burial ground for early settlers Dario and Manuelita Douglas Tober, who acquired land here back in…

  • Christine, TX · 18.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving south of Jourdanton on Farm Road 140, and you're passing through Christine. This town owes its existence to a developer named C. F. Simmons, who founded it in October 1909. He named it after his daughter,…

  • Atascosa, TX · 18.7 mi

    According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service 2007 census, there are more than 70 crop operations in Atascosa, with three operations valued at more than $250,000 each. There are also more than 125 animal…

  • The Science in the Soil · 18.7 mi

    The ground around Atascosa is mostly sandy loam, and that single fact organized everything that ever grew here. Unlike heavy clay that turns sticky and hard to plow, or pure sand that won't hold water, sandy loam is the…

  • Bobbitt, Robert Lee · 18.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Medina County, passing the birthplace of Robert Lee Bobbitt, a man who wore many hats in Texas public service. After graduating from North Texas Normal College and UT Law, he served in World War…

  • The Depot That Rode In on Two Flatcars · 18.8 mi

    Lytle owes its exact spot to a soured land deal. In 1881 the International-Great Northern Railroad struck a bargain with B. G. Andrews to place a depot on his land, called Andrews Station. The deed fell into dispute,…

  • The Man This Town Is Named For Blazed a Cattle Trail · 18.8 mi

    The name on the town belongs to John T. Lytle, one of the great figures of the open-range cattle era. Born in Pennsylvania in 1844, he came to Atascosa County as a young man and regained his health working on his…

  • Lytle, John Thomas · 18.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through South Texas, and right here is Lytle, a town named for a man who helped shape the Texas cattle industry. John Thomas Lytle, a Civil War veteran, started his own ranch near Castroville in 1867. But…

  • Great Western Trail · 18.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through South Texas, and right here, in the mid-1870s, a massive undertaking began: the Great Western Trail. This wasn't just any cattle drive; it was a 2,000-mile lifeline stretching all the way to…

  • Benton, TX · 18.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving near Lytle, and right here, the community of Benton once stood. Settled in 1876, it was a bustling place with a Masonic hall and its own newspaper, the Benton City Era. Residents even tried to carve out…

  • Lytle, TX · 18.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Lytle, a town named for John T. Lytle, a rancher and cattle driver who was active here as early as the 1840s. He helped establish Lytle Station on the railroad in 1882. When the post office opened…

  • Lytle Methodist Church · 18.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're passing Lytle United Methodist Church, a place with roots stretching back to 1889. It all started with W.C. Newton, a farmer and preacher known as 'The Father of the Lytle Methodist Church.' He worked hard to get…

  • The Town in Three Places at Once · 18.9 mi

    Here’s something you probably don't know about the town you're in. Your car might be in Atascosa County, but the gas station across the street could be in Medina County, and the school down the road in Bexar County.…

  • Lytle, TX · 18.9 mi

    Lytle's history began with 321 acres patented to Henry Volkner in 1856. In 1870, Volkner sold the land for $175 to Fitch S. Adams, who allowed the first school to be built on his property. The town's name originated…

  • The Cattle King's Town · 18.9 mi

    The town of Lytle is named for Captain John T. Lytle, and unlike most namesakes, he was actually here. Born in Pennsylvania in 1844, he came to Texas in 1860, and by 1871 he had a cattle-trailing partnership with his…

  • McCulloch Cemetery · 18.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past McCulloch Cemetery, a final resting place with deep roots in Texas history. Samuel McCulloch, Jr., wounded at the Battle of Goliad in 1835, was one of the Revolution's first casualties. He later…

  • Krause House/Mann's Crossing Post Office · 18.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Krause House, a testament to Texas pioneer grit. Anton and Johanna Krause arrived from Austria in 1854, walking much of the way to San Antonio. By 1875, they’d moved southwest of the…

  • The Lignite That Fed the Locomotives · 19.0 mi

    About a mile southwest of Lytle, in southeastern Medina County, a settlement grew up around something buried in the ground: lignite. Lignite is a soft, young brown coal, formed from peat that never fully hardened into…

  • Espada Acequia · 19.0 mi · Scraped Hmdb

    Check out this incredible aqueduct – a water system built almost 300 years ago that's *still* working! Franciscan friars and local Native Americans built the Espada Acequia around 1731 to irrigate the fields near…

  • Donkey Lady Bridge · 19.1 mi · Things to Do

    A disfigured woman with melted fingers resembling hooves is said to haunt this bridge over Elm Creek south of San Antonio. Visitors report screaming and…

  • Atascosa Lodge No. 379, A.F. and A.M. · 19.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Atascosa Lodge Number 379, chartered in 1873. These eleven Master Masons started their lodge in Benton City in 1872. Their first hall, built in 1876, wasn't just for meetings; it also…

  • Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Lytle (Lytle) · 19.4 mi

    Lytle (Lytle, TX) placed on the 3A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Mason Hill (0.526 avg, 7 HR); Peyton Phillips (3 HR); Toby Davila (0.477 avg, 2 HR).

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