Maverick County, Texas
Encyclopedia
Maverick County is a county located in the U.S. state
of Texas
. In 2000, its population was 47,297. Its county seat
is Eagle Pass
. Maverick County is named for Samuel Maverick
, cattleman and state legislator.
The Eagle Pass Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Maverick County.
, the county has a total area of 1,292 square miles (3,346 km²), of which 1,280 square miles (3,315 km²) is land and 12 square miles (31 km²) (0.90%) is water.
of 2000, there are 47,297 people, 13,089 households, and 11,230 families residing in the county. The population density
is 37 people per square mile (14/km²). There are 14,889 housing units at an average density of 12 per square mile (4/km²). The racial makeup of the county is 70.89% White, 0.31% Black or African American, 1.34% Native American, 0.39% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 24.08% from other races, and 2.95% from two or more races. 95.01% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 13,089 households out of which 51.60% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 66.50% are married couples
living together, 16.00% have a female householder with no husband present, and 14.20% are non-families. 12.90% of all households are made up of individuals and 6.60% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 3.60 and the average family size is 3.98.
In the county, the population is spread out with 36.90% under the age of 18, 9.20% from 18 to 24, 26.70% from 25 to 44, 17.70% from 45 to 64, and 9.50% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 28 years. For every 100 females there are 91.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 86.40 males.
The median income for a household in the county is $21,232, and the median income for a family is $23,614. Males have a median income of $20,956 versus $15,662 for females. The per capita income
for the county is $8,758. 34.80% of the population and 32.00% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 40.60% of those under the age of 18 and 40.90% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line. Based on per-capita income
, Maverick is one of the poorest counties in the United States.
According to the 2000 census, Maverick county has the nation's highest percentage of people who speak Spanish at home, at 91%.
hunter-gatherer
were the first inhabitants, and their artifacts have been found in various areas of the county. Lipan Apache, Shawnee
and Coahuiltecan
culture followed. The abandonment of Fort Duncan on March 20, 1861 during the Civil War enabled the Indian population to gain control of the region; both American and Mexican inhabitants suffered tremendous loss of life and property. The fort was reoccupied in 1868. In the early 1871 a number of Black Seminole Indians
living along the border were organized into a company of scouts and brought to Fort Duncan.
The last Indian raid in the county occurred in 1877. Three traders were murdered and mutilated by Lipan Apaches. The site of the incident, eight miles (13 km) northeast of Eagle Pass, became known as Deadman's Hill.
, that crosses the Rio Grande
begins in east Texas and crosses southern Maverick County. The trail was originally blazed by Alonso De León
in 1690, and is said to have been traversed by more early Spanish explorers and settlers than any other section of the state. In 1989, the legislature authorized the Old San Antonio Road Preservation Commission to coordinate the 1991 300th anniversary of the trail’s founding.
Saltillo
alcade Fernando de Azcué in 1665 pursued Indians into the county. In 1675 Fernando del Bosque traversed the area near Quemado
, and Franciscan
s with the expedition are said to have celebrated the first Mass on Texas soil.
In 1688 Alonso De León followed the Camino Real across the county en route to Fort St. Louis. Domingo Terán de los Ríos
, the first Governor of Spanish Texas
, led an expedition through the county in 1691. Spanish Texas
Governor Martín de Alarcón
crossed the county in 1718 on the expedition that resulted in the founding of San Antonio
.
Governor of the Mexican
provinces of Coahuila
and Texas
, Marqués de San Miguel de Aguayo
, in 1720 passed through on an expedition that brought goats, 2800 horses and 6400 sheep that was the onset of Spanish ranching in Texas. Pedro de Rivera y Villalón crossed the county in 1727 as part of an expedition to inspect the frontier defenses of New Spain.
On March 27, 1849, Capt. Sidney Burbank
established Fort Duncan, previously known as Camp Eagle Pass, on a site two miles (3 km) north of the ford at Adjuntos Pass.
General William Leslie Cazneau
, credited several years earlier with burying the Alamo
casualties with full military honors, began ranching in the area circa 1850. He partnered with Irish
-born San Antonio banker and county settler John Twohig to lay out a plan of Eagle Pass in 1850. That same year, a Mexican garrison established Piedras Negras
across the border.
Freight operator Friedrich Wilhelm Carl Groos secured a contract to haul supplies for the army at Fort Duncan. At his urging, several early settlers of Eagle Pass were emigres
of the Mexican river villages and missions of San Juan Bautista, San José, Santo Domingo, San Nicolás, La Navaja, and San Isidro.
Emigres Refugio and Rita Alderete de San Miguel used the profits of their freighting business to establish a large-scale cattle, sheep and horse ranch on Elm Creek in 1853. They were joined in ranching operations by stranded pilgrims on the California Gold Rush
trail and discharged Fort Duncan soldiers. Among these was Infantry veteran Jesse Sumpter who also worked at many odd jobs before becoming Sheriff in the newly formed Maverick County.
Landscape pioneer Frederick Law Olmsted
visited Eagle Pass in 1854 and noted the many slave hunters and runaway slaves residing in Piedras Negras, as well as the many saloons and gambling houses, which catered to Fort Duncan's soldiers and other unsavory characters.
In 1855 Texas Governor Elisha M. Pease
authorized a raid into Mexico. An international incident was brought about by James H. Callahan and William R. Henry whose pursuit of Lipan, Apache raiders and runaway slaves into Mexico ended in the looting and torching of Piedras Negras, Mexico, after an encounter with Mexican forces at La Marama on the Río Escondido.
in 1856. The county was organized some years later on September 4, 1871. The estimated population of the county in 1860 was 726. Eagle Pass voted 83-3 against secession from the Union.
Fort Duncan was occupied by Confederate troops during the Civil War. Eagle Pass was chosen as a trade depot for the Military Board of Texas. Eagle Pass was a major terminus of the Cotton Road, custom house and Confederate port of entry into Mexico 1863-65. A cotton press was installed at Piedras Negras to handle the enormous quantities coming across the Rio Grande. At the close of the Civil War
General Joseph Orville Shelby’s
brigade never surrendered, but hoped to continue their fight across the border. On July 4, 1865, Shelby stopped in the middle of the Rio Grande
to bury the last Confederate flag to fly over his troops. To the sound of drum and bugle, he wrapped the flag around the plume of his hat, weighted it with a stone from the river bank, and lowered it into the river. Shelby’s unit became known as “The Undefeated” and were used as a basis for the 1969 John Wayne
-Rock Hudson
film by the same name
.
Saloons, gambling houses, and smuggling operations proliferated in and around Eagle Pass during Reconstruction. The infamous J. King Fisher
and his followers dominated the era in the region.
Telegraph lines reached Eagle Pass in 1875. In 1880, the main line of the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway was extended west from San Antonio, connecting to the Mexican Railway in Piedras Negras.
Irrigation has been vital to area farmers. In 1885, rancher Patrick W. Thomson formed the Eagle Pass Irrigation Company to construct a huge gravity-flow irrigation system to draw water from the Rio Grande. Thompson died in 1910, but his efforts came to fruition as The Maverick County Irrigation Canal system, operational by April 1932.
March 3, 1911, when Lt. Benjamin D. Foulois
and Philip O. Parmalee
made the first official military reconnaissance flight, looking for Army troops between Laredo
and Eagle Pass, Texas
, with a ground exercise in progress. In 1942 the Army Air Force built a single-engine advanced flying school twelve miles (19 km) north of Eagle Pass.
Oil and gas exploration in the county began in the 1950s, with the three biggest fields being the 1969 Fitzpatrick and Wipff, and the 1970 Burr.
The coal industry of Maverick County is located along a section of the Olmos Coal Formation immediately north of Eagle Pass. Mining operations developed by Dolch at Dolchburg and by the Olmos Coal, Coke, and Oil Company at Olmos were the largest coal producers in Texas around the turn of the century.
Industries located in the county in 1977 included a cotton gin and two cattle feedlots with capacities of 25,000 cattle at El Indio, one at Normandy, and another between Eagle Pass and El Indio. A spinach-packing shed was at the southern edge of Eagle Pass. A number of industries have located in the Eagle Pass–Maverick County area since 1977. These include the Eagle Pass Manufacturing Company (a division of Hicks-Ponder, Incorporated) and the Williamson-Dickie Manufacturing Company, both makers of work clothing; the Reynolds Mining Corporation fluorspar plant and the Tejas Barite plant; Alta-Verde Industries and Maverick Beef Producers, and the Big River Catfish Farm.
In 1982, 88 percent of all land in the county was considered farmland and ranches, but only 2 percent of the farmland was under cultivation, and most of that was irrigated. Primary crops were hay, oats, and wheat.
Traditionally Democratic
, Maverick County was one of the only counties in Texas where George McGovern
received a majority of the vote. The last Republican to carry the county was Herbert Hoover
in 1928. In recent times it cast a majority
of its votes for U.S. Senator John Kerry
in the 2004 U.S. presidential election
. President George W. Bush
received 4,025 votes to Kerry's 5,948. In the 2008 U.S. presidential election
it cast a higher majority of 8,554 votes for Barack Obama
The county is located in Texas Senate, District 19
so is represented by Democrat Carlos Uresti
in the Texas Senate
. As part of the 80th district of the Texas House of Representatives
it is represented by Democrat Tracy O. King. In the United States House of Representatives
it is part of Texas's 23rd congressional district
, which has a Cook Partisan Voting Index
of R+4 and is represented by Democrat Ciro Rodriguez.
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. In 2000, its population was 47,297. Its county seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....
is Eagle Pass
Eagle Pass, Texas
Eagle Pass is a city in and the county seat of Maverick County The population was 27,183 as of the 2010 census.Eagle Pass borders the city of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, which is to the southwest and across the Rio Grande. The Eagle Pass-Piedras Negras Metropolitan Area is one of six...
. Maverick County is named for Samuel Maverick
Samuel Maverick
Samuel Augustus Maverick was a Texas lawyer, politician, land baron and signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence...
, cattleman and state legislator.
The Eagle Pass Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Maverick County.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census BureauUnited States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the county has a total area of 1,292 square miles (3,346 km²), of which 1,280 square miles (3,315 km²) is land and 12 square miles (31 km²) (0.90%) is water.
Major highways
U.S. Highway 57
U.S. Highway 277
State Highway 131
Adjacent counties and municipios
- Kinney CountyKinney County, TexasKinney County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. In 2000, its population was 3,379. Its seat is Brackettville. Kinney County is named for Henry Lawrence Kinney, an early settler.-Geography:...
(north) - Zavala CountyZavala County, TexasZavala County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of 2000, the population was 11,600. Its county seat is Crystal City. Zavala is named for Lorenzo de Zavala, Mexican politician, signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, and first vice president of the Republic of...
(east) - Dimmit CountyDimmit County, TexasDimmit County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. In 2000, its population was 10,248. It is named for Philip Dimmitt, a major figure in the Texas Revolution. The reason the county name differs is because the bill creating the county misspelled Dimmitt's name...
(east) - Uvalde CountyUvalde County, TexasUvalde County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. In 2000, its population was 25,926. Its county seat is Uvalde. The county is named for Juan de Ugalde, the Spanish governor of Coahuila. Uvalde County was founded by Reading Wood Black who also founded the city of Uvalde,...
(northeast) - Webb CountyWebb County, TexasWebb County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. The official 2010 population for the county is 250,304. In 2000, its population was 193,117, and in 2006 its population had been estimated to have reached to 231,470. Its county seat is Laredo...
(southeast) - Guerrero, Coahuila, Mexico (southwest)
- Jiménez, Coahuila, MexicoJiménez (municipality of Coahuila)Jiménez is a one of the 38 municipalities of Coahuila, in north-eastern Mexico. The municipal seat lies at Jiménez. The municipality covers an area of 3040.9 km² and is located on the international border between Mexico and the USA, here formed by the Río Bravo del Norte , adjacent to the U.S...
(west) - Piedras NegrasPiedras Negras (municipality)Piedras Negras Municipality is a one of the 38 municipalities of Coahuila, in north-eastern Mexico. The municipal seat lies at Piedras Negras. The municipality covers an area of 914.2 km² and is located on the international border between Mexico and the USA, here formed by the Río Bravo del...
, CoahuilaCoahuilaCoahuila, formally Coahuila de Zaragoza , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila de Zaragoza is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico...
, MexicoMexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
(southwest)
Demographics
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there are 47,297 people, 13,089 households, and 11,230 families residing in the county. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
is 37 people per square mile (14/km²). There are 14,889 housing units at an average density of 12 per square mile (4/km²). The racial makeup of the county is 70.89% White, 0.31% Black or African American, 1.34% Native American, 0.39% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 24.08% from other races, and 2.95% from two or more races. 95.01% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 13,089 households out of which 51.60% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 66.50% are married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 16.00% have a female householder with no husband present, and 14.20% are non-families. 12.90% of all households are made up of individuals and 6.60% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 3.60 and the average family size is 3.98.
In the county, the population is spread out with 36.90% under the age of 18, 9.20% from 18 to 24, 26.70% from 25 to 44, 17.70% from 45 to 64, and 9.50% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 28 years. For every 100 females there are 91.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 86.40 males.
The median income for a household in the county is $21,232, and the median income for a family is $23,614. Males have a median income of $20,956 versus $15,662 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the county is $8,758. 34.80% of the population and 32.00% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 40.60% of those under the age of 18 and 40.90% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line. Based on per-capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
, Maverick is one of the poorest counties in the United States.
According to the 2000 census, Maverick county has the nation's highest percentage of people who speak Spanish at home, at 91%.
History
Native Americans
PrehistoricPrehistory
Prehistory is the span of time before recorded history. Prehistory can refer to the period of human existence before the availability of those written records with which recorded history begins. More broadly, it refers to all the time preceding human existence and the invention of writing...
hunter-gatherer
Hunter-gatherer
A hunter-gatherer or forage society is one in which most or all food is obtained from wild plants and animals, in contrast to agricultural societies which rely mainly on domesticated species. Hunting and gathering was the ancestral subsistence mode of Homo, and all modern humans were...
were the first inhabitants, and their artifacts have been found in various areas of the county. Lipan Apache, Shawnee
Shawnee
The Shawnee, Shaawanwaki, Shaawanooki and Shaawanowi lenaweeki, are an Algonquian-speaking people native to North America. Historically they inhabited the areas of Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Western Maryland, Kentucky, Indiana, and Pennsylvania...
and Coahuiltecan
Coahuiltecan
Coahuiltecan or Paikawa was a proposed language family in John Wesley Powell's 1891 classification of Native American languages that consisted of Coahuilteco and Cotoname. The proposal was expanded to include Comecrudo, Karankawa, and Tonkawa...
culture followed. The abandonment of Fort Duncan on March 20, 1861 during the Civil War enabled the Indian population to gain control of the region; both American and Mexican inhabitants suffered tremendous loss of life and property. The fort was reoccupied in 1868. In the early 1871 a number of Black Seminole Indians
Black Seminoles
The Black Seminoles is a term used by modern historians for the descendants of free blacks and some runaway slaves , mostly Gullahs who escaped from coastal South Carolina and Georgia rice plantations into the Spanish Florida wilderness beginning as early as the late 17th century...
living along the border were organized into a company of scouts and brought to Fort Duncan.
The last Indian raid in the county occurred in 1877. Three traders were murdered and mutilated by Lipan Apaches. The site of the incident, eight miles (13 km) northeast of Eagle Pass, became known as Deadman's Hill.
Spanish Explorations
The El Camino Real, later known as the Old San Antonio RoadOld San Antonio Road
The Old San Antonio Road was a historic roadway located in the U.S. states of Texas and Louisiana. Parts of it were based on traditional Native American trails. Its Texas terminus was about southeast of Eagle Pass at the Rio Grande in Maverick County, and its northern terminus was at...
, that crosses the Rio Grande
Rio Grande
The Rio Grande is a river that flows from southwestern Colorado in the United States to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way it forms part of the Mexico – United States border. Its length varies as its course changes...
begins in east Texas and crosses southern Maverick County. The trail was originally blazed by Alonso De León
Alonso De León
Alonso de León wasexplorer and governor, who led several expeditions into the area that is now northeastern Mexico and southern Texas.-Early life:...
in 1690, and is said to have been traversed by more early Spanish explorers and settlers than any other section of the state. In 1989, the legislature authorized the Old San Antonio Road Preservation Commission to coordinate the 1991 300th anniversary of the trail’s founding.
Saltillo
Saltillo
Saltillo is the capital city of the northeastern Mexican state of Coahuila and the municipal seat of the municipality of the same name. The city is located about 400 km south of the U.S. state of Texas, and 90 km west of Monterrey, Nuevo León....
alcade Fernando de Azcué in 1665 pursued Indians into the county. In 1675 Fernando del Bosque traversed the area near Quemado
Quemado, Texas
Quemado is a census-designated place in Maverick County, Texas, United States. The population was 243 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Quemado is located at ....
, and Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
s with the expedition are said to have celebrated the first Mass on Texas soil.
In 1688 Alonso De León followed the Camino Real across the county en route to Fort St. Louis. Domingo Terán de los Ríos
Domingo Terán de los Ríos
Domingo Terán de los Ríos served as the first governor of Spanish Texas from 1691 to 1692.-Previous service:Terán served the Spanish crown in Peru for two decades. He came to Mexico in 1681, and was governor of the province of Sonora y Sinaloa for approximately five years...
, the first Governor of Spanish Texas
Spanish Texas
Spanish Texas was one of the interior provinces of New Spain from 1690 until 1821. Although Spain claimed ownership of the territory, which comprised part of modern-day Texas, including the land north of the Medina and Nueces Rivers, the Spanish did not attempt to colonize the area until after...
, led an expedition through the county in 1691. Spanish Texas
Spanish Texas
Spanish Texas was one of the interior provinces of New Spain from 1690 until 1821. Although Spain claimed ownership of the territory, which comprised part of modern-day Texas, including the land north of the Medina and Nueces Rivers, the Spanish did not attempt to colonize the area until after...
Governor Martín de Alarcón
Martín de Alarcón
Martín de Alarcón was the governor of Spanish Texas from 1705 until 1708, and again from 1716 until 1719. He founded San Antonio, the first civilian settlement in Texas.-First term:...
crossed the county in 1718 on the expedition that resulted in the founding of San Antonio
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
.
Governor of the Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
provinces of Coahuila
Coahuila
Coahuila, formally Coahuila de Zaragoza , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila de Zaragoza is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico...
and Texas
Spanish Texas
Spanish Texas was one of the interior provinces of New Spain from 1690 until 1821. Although Spain claimed ownership of the territory, which comprised part of modern-day Texas, including the land north of the Medina and Nueces Rivers, the Spanish did not attempt to colonize the area until after...
, Marqués de San Miguel de Aguayo
José de Azlor y Virto de Vera
José de Azlor y Virto de Vera, the Marquis de San Miguel de Aguayo, was the governor of the Mexican provinces of Coahuila and Texas between 1719 and 1722. During his tenure, Aguayo retook Eastern Texas from France without firing a shot...
, in 1720 passed through on an expedition that brought goats, 2800 horses and 6400 sheep that was the onset of Spanish ranching in Texas. Pedro de Rivera y Villalón crossed the county in 1727 as part of an expedition to inspect the frontier defenses of New Spain.
Early Settlers
Antonio Rivas was the first known rancher on the land in 1765.On March 27, 1849, Capt. Sidney Burbank
Sidney Burbank
Sidney Burbank served as an officer in the regular army before and during the American Civil War. For a time he led a brigade in the Army of the Potomac.-Pre War:...
established Fort Duncan, previously known as Camp Eagle Pass, on a site two miles (3 km) north of the ford at Adjuntos Pass.
General William Leslie Cazneau
William Leslie Cazneau
William Leslie Cazneau was a Texas pioneer and is credited with having buried the Alamo Heroes with full military honors.Cazneau was born in Boston and came to Texas in 1830. He was the older son of ship master William L. Cazneau . In the late 1840s, he married Jane McManus Storms Cazneau .His...
, credited several years earlier with burying the Alamo
Alamo
The Battle of the Alamo was a battle fought during the Texas Revolution.Alamo may also refer to:-Places:*Alamo Mission in San Antonio, Texas*Alamo, California*Alamo, Georgia*Alamo Township, Michigan*Alamo, Nevada*Alamo, New Mexico...
casualties with full military honors, began ranching in the area circa 1850. He partnered with Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
-born San Antonio banker and county settler John Twohig to lay out a plan of Eagle Pass in 1850. That same year, a Mexican garrison established Piedras Negras
Piedras Negras, Coahuila
-Natural Resources:This region generates a large amount of the national production of coal, one of the most economically important non-metallic minerals in the state.-Tourism:Piedras Negras' main tourist attractions are:...
across the border.
Freight operator Friedrich Wilhelm Carl Groos secured a contract to haul supplies for the army at Fort Duncan. At his urging, several early settlers of Eagle Pass were emigres
Émigré
Émigré is a French term that literally refers to a person who has "migrated out", but often carries a connotation of politico-social self-exile....
of the Mexican river villages and missions of San Juan Bautista, San José, Santo Domingo, San Nicolás, La Navaja, and San Isidro.
Emigres Refugio and Rita Alderete de San Miguel used the profits of their freighting business to establish a large-scale cattle, sheep and horse ranch on Elm Creek in 1853. They were joined in ranching operations by stranded pilgrims on the California Gold Rush
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
trail and discharged Fort Duncan soldiers. Among these was Infantry veteran Jesse Sumpter who also worked at many odd jobs before becoming Sheriff in the newly formed Maverick County.
Landscape pioneer Frederick Law Olmsted
Frederick Law Olmsted
Frederick Law Olmsted was an American journalist, social critic, public administrator, and landscape designer. He is popularly considered to be the father of American landscape architecture, although many scholars have bestowed that title upon Andrew Jackson Downing...
visited Eagle Pass in 1854 and noted the many slave hunters and runaway slaves residing in Piedras Negras, as well as the many saloons and gambling houses, which catered to Fort Duncan's soldiers and other unsavory characters.
In 1855 Texas Governor Elisha M. Pease
Elisha M. Pease
Elisha Marshall Pease was a U.S. politician from the 1830s through the 1870s. He served as the fifth and 13th Governor of Texas .A native of Enfield, Connecticut, Pease moved to Mexican Texas in 1835...
authorized a raid into Mexico. An international incident was brought about by James H. Callahan and William R. Henry whose pursuit of Lipan, Apache raiders and runaway slaves into Mexico ended in the looting and torching of Piedras Negras, Mexico, after an encounter with Mexican forces at La Marama on the Río Escondido.
County Established and Growth
Maverick County was established from Kinney County and named for Samuel A. MaverickSamuel Maverick
Samuel Augustus Maverick was a Texas lawyer, politician, land baron and signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence...
in 1856. The county was organized some years later on September 4, 1871. The estimated population of the county in 1860 was 726. Eagle Pass voted 83-3 against secession from the Union.
Fort Duncan was occupied by Confederate troops during the Civil War. Eagle Pass was chosen as a trade depot for the Military Board of Texas. Eagle Pass was a major terminus of the Cotton Road, custom house and Confederate port of entry into Mexico 1863-65. A cotton press was installed at Piedras Negras to handle the enormous quantities coming across the Rio Grande. At the close of the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
General Joseph Orville Shelby’s
Joseph O. Shelby
Joseph Orville Shelby was a noted Confederate cavalry general in the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War.-Early life and education:...
brigade never surrendered, but hoped to continue their fight across the border. On July 4, 1865, Shelby stopped in the middle of the Rio Grande
Rio Grande
The Rio Grande is a river that flows from southwestern Colorado in the United States to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way it forms part of the Mexico – United States border. Its length varies as its course changes...
to bury the last Confederate flag to fly over his troops. To the sound of drum and bugle, he wrapped the flag around the plume of his hat, weighted it with a stone from the river bank, and lowered it into the river. Shelby’s unit became known as “The Undefeated” and were used as a basis for the 1969 John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
-Rock Hudson
Rock Hudson
Roy Harold Scherer, Jr., later Roy Harold Fitzgerald , known professionally as Rock Hudson, was an American film and television actor, recognized as a romantic leading man during the 1950s and 1960s, most notably in several romantic comedies with Doris Day.Hudson was voted "Star of the Year",...
film by the same name
The Undefeated (1969 film)
The Undefeated is a 1969 American Western film directed by Andrew V. McLaglen and John Wayne and starring John Wayne and Rock Hudson. The film portrays events surrounding the French Intervention in Mexico and is also loosely based on General J. O...
.
Saloons, gambling houses, and smuggling operations proliferated in and around Eagle Pass during Reconstruction. The infamous J. King Fisher
King Fisher
King Fisher was a gunslinger of the American Old West.- Early life :John King Fisher was born in Collin County, Texas, to Jobe Fisher and Lucinda Warren Fisher. He had two brothers, Jasper and James, and his mother died when he was two years old. His father then remarried to a woman named Minerva...
and his followers dominated the era in the region.
Telegraph lines reached Eagle Pass in 1875. In 1880, the main line of the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway was extended west from San Antonio, connecting to the Mexican Railway in Piedras Negras.
Irrigation has been vital to area farmers. In 1885, rancher Patrick W. Thomson formed the Eagle Pass Irrigation Company to construct a huge gravity-flow irrigation system to draw water from the Rio Grande. Thompson died in 1910, but his efforts came to fruition as The Maverick County Irrigation Canal system, operational by April 1932.
March 3, 1911, when Lt. Benjamin D. Foulois
Benjamin Foulois
Benjamin Delahauf Foulois , was a United States Army general who learned to fly the first military planes purchased from the Wright Brothers. He became the first military aviator as an airship pilot, and achieved numerous other military aviation "firsts"...
and Philip O. Parmalee
Philip Orin Parmelee
Philip Orin Parmelee was an American aviation pioneer trained by the Wright brothers and credited with several early world aviation records and "firsts" in flight...
made the first official military reconnaissance flight, looking for Army troops between Laredo
Laredo, Texas
Laredo is the county seat of Webb County, Texas, United States, located on the north bank of the Rio Grande in South Texas, across from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. According to the 2010 census, the city population was 236,091 making it the 3rd largest on the United States-Mexican border,...
and Eagle Pass, Texas
Eagle Pass, Texas
Eagle Pass is a city in and the county seat of Maverick County The population was 27,183 as of the 2010 census.Eagle Pass borders the city of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, which is to the southwest and across the Rio Grande. The Eagle Pass-Piedras Negras Metropolitan Area is one of six...
, with a ground exercise in progress. In 1942 the Army Air Force built a single-engine advanced flying school twelve miles (19 km) north of Eagle Pass.
Oil and gas exploration in the county began in the 1950s, with the three biggest fields being the 1969 Fitzpatrick and Wipff, and the 1970 Burr.
The coal industry of Maverick County is located along a section of the Olmos Coal Formation immediately north of Eagle Pass. Mining operations developed by Dolch at Dolchburg and by the Olmos Coal, Coke, and Oil Company at Olmos were the largest coal producers in Texas around the turn of the century.
Industries located in the county in 1977 included a cotton gin and two cattle feedlots with capacities of 25,000 cattle at El Indio, one at Normandy, and another between Eagle Pass and El Indio. A spinach-packing shed was at the southern edge of Eagle Pass. A number of industries have located in the Eagle Pass–Maverick County area since 1977. These include the Eagle Pass Manufacturing Company (a division of Hicks-Ponder, Incorporated) and the Williamson-Dickie Manufacturing Company, both makers of work clothing; the Reynolds Mining Corporation fluorspar plant and the Tejas Barite plant; Alta-Verde Industries and Maverick Beef Producers, and the Big River Catfish Farm.
In 1982, 88 percent of all land in the county was considered farmland and ranches, but only 2 percent of the farmland was under cultivation, and most of that was irrigated. Primary crops were hay, oats, and wheat.
Census-designated places
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Elm Creek, Texas Elm Creek is a census-designated place in Maverick County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,928 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Elm Creek is located at .... Las Quintas Fronterizas, Texas Las Quintas Fronterizas is a census-designated place in Maverick County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,030 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Las Quintas Fronterizas is located at .... |
Quemado, Texas Quemado is a census-designated place in Maverick County, Texas, United States. The population was 243 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Quemado is located at .... Radar Base, Texas Radar Base is a census-designated place in Maverick County, Texas, United States. The population was 162 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Radar Base is located at .... |
Rosita North, Texas Rosita North is a census-designated place in Maverick County, Texas, United States. The population was 3,400 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Rosita North is located at .... Rosita South, Texas Rosita South is a census-designated place in Maverick County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,574 at the 2000 census. The Kickapoo Indian Reservation of Texas is located within the community.-Geography:... |
Politics
Maverick Russell runs this countyTraditionally Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
, Maverick County was one of the only counties in Texas where George McGovern
George McGovern
George Stanley McGovern is an historian, author, and former U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the Democratic Party nominee in the 1972 presidential election....
received a majority of the vote. The last Republican to carry the county was Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
in 1928. In recent times it cast a majority
Majority
A majority is a subset of a group consisting of more than half of its members. This can be compared to a plurality, which is a subset larger than any other subset; i.e. a plurality is not necessarily a majority as the largest subset may consist of less than half the group's population...
of its votes for U.S. Senator John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
in the 2004 U.S. presidential election
United States presidential election, 2004
The United States presidential election of 2004 was the United States' 55th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. Republican Party candidate and incumbent President George W. Bush defeated Democratic Party candidate John Kerry, the then-junior U.S. Senator...
. President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
received 4,025 votes to Kerry's 5,948. In the 2008 U.S. presidential election
United States presidential election, 2008
The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...
it cast a higher majority of 8,554 votes for Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
The county is located in Texas Senate, District 19
Texas Senate, District 19
District 19 of the Texas Senate is a senatorial district that currently serves all of Bandera, Brewster, Crockett, Culberson, Edwards, Hudspeth, Jeff Davis, Kinney, Loving, Maverick, Medina, Pecos, Presidio, Real, Reeves, Sutton, Terrell, Uvalde, Val Verde, Ward and Winkler counties, and portions...
so is represented by Democrat Carlos Uresti
Carlos Uresti
Carlos Ismael "Charlie" Uresti is a prominent San Antonio attorney practicing throughout the State of Texas in the areas of Family Law, Civil Litigation, Criminal Litigation, Personal Injury and Wrongful Death. As a Democrat, he is a member of the Texas State Senate representing Senate District 19...
in the Texas Senate
Texas Senate
The Texas Senate is the upper house of the Texas Legislature. There are 31 members of the Senate, representing 31 single-member districts across the state with populations of approximately 672,000 per constituency. There are no term limits, and each term is four years long. The Senate meets at the...
. As part of the 80th district of the Texas House of Representatives
Texas House of Representatives
The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the Texas Legislature. The House is composed of 150 members elected from single-member districts across the state. The average district has about 150,000 people. Representatives are elected to two-year terms with no term limits...
it is represented by Democrat Tracy O. King. In the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
it is part of Texas's 23rd congressional district
Texas's 23rd congressional district
Texas's 23rd congressional district is the 8th largest congressional district in the country not counting at-large districts, stretching across the southwestern portion of Texas. It is a Latino-majority district and its current Representative is Republican Quico Canseco...
, which has a Cook Partisan Voting Index
Cook Partisan Voting Index
The Cook Partisan Voting Index , sometimes referred to as simply the Partisan Voting Index , is a measurement of how strongly an American congressional district or state leans toward one political party compared to the nation as a whole...
of R+4 and is represented by Democrat Ciro Rodriguez.
See also
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Maverick County, Texas