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McMullen County, Texas

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Contents

History/Timeline

  • McMullen County was formed from Atascosa, Bexar, Live Oak counties in 1858; organized 1862, reorganized 1877 It is named for the Nueces River pioneer-empresario John McMullen. [1]


9200-6000-B.C.- Humans were living in the McMullen County area as indicated by artifacts dating from the Paleo-Indian period (9200 B.C. to 6000 B.C) [2]
(6000 B.C. to A.D. 1000) Indian population increased during the Archaic time span. This was the time of hunter-gatherers were here living on the wild game, wild fruits, seeds, roots. [2]
A.D. 1000 to arrival of the Spanish - artifacts such as tools carved from wood and stone by these early inhabitants. Indians in the area learned to make pottery and hunted with bows and arrows. [2]
1689-1690 -Alonso De León, traveled through the area in 1689 and 1690
1725 the Coahuiltecan Indians, native to the area of McMullen County possibly were driven out by Lipan Apaches and other Indian tribes, who were migrating into the area, and the Spanish.[2]
1825 -Mexican state of Coahuila granted a colonization contract to Benjamin Drake Lovell and John G. Purnell for a tract of land - most of present-day McMullen County north of the Nueces River. Early inhabitants gathered prickly pear [2]
1828,-Lovell and Purnell failed to fulfill the terms of their contract. This area was re-assigned to John McMullen and James McGloin, who contracted to settle the area with 200 Catholic immigrants.[2]
1835 Mexican government had issued perhaps fifteen grants of land in the area of present McMullen County to colonists associated with the McMullen-McGloin project. [2]
None of the grantees had settled in the area!!
1836 - when Texas seceded from Mexico, McMullin area was still populated almost entirely by the Indian bands. [2]
1841 - 45 Republic of Texas issued forty-five land grants to property in the area.[2]
Neither the Republic of Texas nor the Mexican government could control this contested land, thus outlaws invaded and controlled this contested land.[2]
1844 -William Bollaert, an English land speculator, traveled through the area between the Nueces and Frio rivers encountering the outlaws or convicts from Laredo.[2]
The area's grasslands and wild cattle and mustangs offered economic opportunity to brave people.[2]
1858 a group of about 30 people established a settlement near Leoncita Creek with 10 buildings. [2]
McMullen County is named for one of John McMullen two impresarios in this South Texas area. ( the two were James McGloin and John McMullen.
'1858, settlers in McMullen County built some dwellings and roads around where Leoncita Creek and the Frio River joined, and formed the town of Rio Frio, later named Dog Town in the early 1860s.[3]
Fall of 1859 -cut a road to meet the San Antonio-Laredo road
Yarbrough Bend, a mostly squatters were in a loose community.
1860's Small flocks of Merino sheep were brought into the region
1861-65 -During the Civil War, a Home Guard post named Camp Rio Frio was built to protect the community from Apaches and bandits.

:1862, the county was organized but later abandoned because of the extreme amount of crime, robbings, killings. in the thicket area during the Civil War. Levi J Edwards built the lflirst general store, and soon added a saloon[3][2]

1870’s many ranches were established. The 1862, the county was organized but later abandoned because of the rampant crime in the county. [3]
1871 Name of the town was changed to Colfax.. (first permanent settlement). the community was granted a post office [3]
Bandits and violence kept most people away. [3]
1873 -1877 McMullen County was organized again in 1877. [3]
1877 Colfax was chosen as the county seat but the name was changed to Tilden, in honor of Samuel Jones Tilden (nicknamed “Whispering Sammy,”) who ran for President 1876 and lost to Rutherford B. Hayes in one of the most controversial U.S. Presidential elections.[3]
1873 -1877 McMullen County was organized again in 1877. [3]
post 1865 After the war, Tilden was called Dog Town and was reputed to be a lawless and bandit-filled place.[2]
1868 - First ranch- Franklin Ranch built by Ralph S. Franklin. It is now calledthe Lone Star Camp, it is a hunting and working ranch camp still owned by the Franklin Family.
1870 Yarbrough Bend, had thirty families. Many ranches were begun. 1

:::Bandits and violence kept most people away.[3]

1876 - The town's name was changed to Tilden, in honor of Samuel J. (Whispering Sammy) Tilden, an unsuccessful Democratic presidential candidate in the election of 1876.
1880 stagecoaches on the San Antonio-Laredo road began making regular stops at Tilden,
1881, Old McMullin College opened under the direction of John Van Epps Covey, and endorsed by the Baptist Church.[2]
1890 the town had grown to 600 residents.[2]
1897 -Old McMullin College were turned over to the Tilden School District. [2]
McMullen County College.
1900 - ninety-one farms and ranches that year covered 505,000 acres.[2]
25,000 cattle, 13,000 horses, 10,779 mules, and 1,044 hogs and swine. 1,024 residents lived on scattered ranches concentrated in the northern and central sections of the county. No effort was made to farm the land.[2]
1905 oil explorations were conducted in a number of locations along the Frio River.[2]
1908 a water well was drilled on the Charles Byrne Ranch east of Tilden, and struck gas and water. A geyser of gas and water went 100 feet high.[2]
1913 -Zella, on the northwestern edge of the county established. [2]
Nov 1917, when a drilling crew found natural gas at a depth of 816 feet on a site near present-day Calliham.[2]
1909 4,400 acres of land was under cultivation;
1920, land in the northeastern and eastern sections of the county planted, 5,000 acres were classified as "improved." Cotton, corn, and sorghum were most often planted. The number of farms increased from ninety-one in 1900 to 130 in 1920 [2]
1920's - The boom collapsed. Three planned towns- (San Fernando, Brazil, and McMullen) never were developed. The towns of Norwell and Zella failed to grow. Farmers who came to McMullen County during this period found no reservoirs of underground water suitable for irrigating the farm. The railroad were reluctant to extend tracks into the county deterred growth. [2]
1923 the new town-called Calliham, after the owner of the site- was granted a post office, and a boom town rose near the Calliham Ranch.[2]
1930 -8,500 acres were planted in cotton, the number of farms increased to 202; in all, 12,000 acres were harvested.[2]
mid 1930's - Tick fever was eradicated. The drought ended in 1939, and World War II improved prices of commodities. [2]
1940's earthen tanks were built to conserve water cross-fencing and new breeds of cattle were introduced. [2]
World War II - 1990s - the population of McMullen county gradually decreased.[2]

Briscoe Ranches

1939 another of the large ranches, BRISCOE Ranches are 640,000 acres and located in the many counties: Brewster, Culberson, Dimmit, La Salle, Maverick, McMullen, Uvalde, Webb, and Zavala counties. The Primary Use is cow-calf, farming, Angora goats, and oil and GAS
Many people who inherit large ranches eventually downsize them. This does not apply to Dolph Briscoe, Jr., Texas’ governor from 1973 to 1979. Briscoe inherited 190,000 acres when his father, Dolph Briscoe, Sr., died in 1954. He has more than tripled his holdings, making him Texas’ largest individual landowner and leases 100,000 acres in Maverick and Cochran counties. . [4]


How Sleepy Rural McMullen County Became the Richest County

Kimberly Kay Kreider-Dusek is the only lawyer in this lowest populated county of Texas. She serves as county attorney, and advises the county commissioners. IRS shows the population of 804 residents in the county and income of only $303,717. Now its income is increasing.... The cattle ranchers and farmers saw more money arriving to them, but didn't know they were more affluent than Teton, Wyoming Fairfield, Connecticut.

What Happened? The controversial oil and gas fracking, prohibited in some states, is welcome in Texas. McMullen County has the US most productive shale gas deposit. Years ago oil and gas companies felt the extraction costs were too costly to extract.. Fracking Technology enabled oil and gas companies to frack and extract the large deposit of gas. McMullen's economy boomed and grow even with energy prices decreasing.

McMullen couldn't afford a jail. Since 2014, there has been an increased crime rate, up to 200 misdemeanors per year. Most of the tickets are traffic incidents.. Now they send the offenders over to nearby Live Oak County. Now the county has a health clinic for residents, which a doctor comes to weekly, where before they had to drive 30 miles to a doctor. [5] McMullen, the richest County



Government Offices

1st McMullen courthouse.
1877 First courthouse was built. Texas Historical Commission shows this to be about 1870. It was 2-story wood frame building with a hipped roof and staircase to the 2nd floor porch.[3]
1929 courthouse burned
McMullen County Courthouse.
1930 2nd courthouse built, classical Revival style influenced by the Missions. It is rectangular brick with limestone water table, lintels and sills. Entrances have fluted Doric columns, hipped roof, covered with red clay tiles. [3]
1964 - an addition was added to east side [3]
1998 Renovated.[3]
Geography

McMullen county total area is 1,157 square miles, of which 1,137 square milesis land and 17 square miles (1.5%) is water.

The county lies at 28°20' north latitude and 98°32' west longitude. It is a flat to rolling terrain, with grasses and scrubby stuff mesquite, scrub brush, cacti, chaparral, and grasses. Elevation r\within this county is 150 to 450 feet.

The soil in the county vary: in some areas light to dark loamy soils over reddish, clayey subsoils, with limestone within forty inches of the surface. Other areas are cracking, grey to black clayey soils predominate. Most of the county is drained by the Nueces River, which flows NE from the SW corner of the county and bisects its eastern border. The northern half of McMullen County is drained by the Frio River, which empties into the Choke Canyon Reservoir in the NE corner.

Prior to settlement in this area the landscape was different springs and seeps also helped to keep streams like San Miguel Creek flowing all year round, and thus helped to perpetuate occasional stands of large oaks. Grasslands alternating with clumps of mesquite and oak trees supported several varieties of wildlife such as deer, turkeys, coyotes, wild horses, and panthers. ====Adjacent counties====

Atascosa County (north)
Live Oak County (east)
Duval County (south)
Webb County (southwest)
La Salle County (west)
Frio County (northwest)

Demographics

In 2000, there were 851 people and 238 families residing in the county. The population density was less than (1/sq mi). The 587 housing units show average density of 0 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 88.37% White, 1.18% Black or African American, 0.24% Native American, 8.93% from other races. Of the white population, 33.14% of the population were Hispanic.

In the county, the population was spread out with 23.40% under the age of 18, 6.30% from 18 to 24, 23.70% from 25 to 44, 28.70% from 45 to 64, and 17.90% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females there were 101.20 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 105.70 males.

Income was $32,500, and the median income for a family was $35,417. Males had a median income of $26,953 versus $20,982 for females. 15.90% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 28.60% are under the age of 18 and 17.90% are 65 or older.

In 1982, 87 percent of the county's land was devoted to ranching and farming and 2 percent was cultivated. Livestock and livestock products accounted for 93 percent of its agricultural income. The mineral are uranium, salt domes, sand and gravel, oil, natural gas, and lignite coal.

Crude oil production in 1982 totalled 899,661 barrels; 20,209,632,000 cubic feet of gas well gas, 693,355,000 cubic feet of casinghead gas, and 56,627 barrels of condensate were also produced. Temperatures in McMullen County range from an average high of 98° F in July to an average low of 42° in January; the average annual temperature is 71° F.

Rainfall averages 24 inches per year, and the growing season lasts for 290 days.

Major highways
U.S. Highway 59

I-69W- future route of Interstate 69W is planned to follow US 59.
Texas State Highway 16
Texas State Highway 72
Texas State Highway 97
Texas Farm to Market Road 99
Texas Farm to Market Road 624
Texas Farm to Market Road 791
Texas Farm to Market Road 1582

School:

  • McMullen County Independent School District.
McMullen County College.

Politics:McMullen County voted as Democratic favored the Democratic ticket from 1884 to 1920. Following 1920- election returns follow the national election result.Since then, however, election returns have usually reflected the national election result.

Population 2014 McMullen County had a population of 805; 60.5% were Anglo, 1 % African American, and 36.6 percent Hispanic.

Town

Tilden, the county's largest town in the north central part of the county at the intersection of State highways 72 and 16.

New Calliham, Texas
Old Calliham, Texas

Formed From

  • Bexar County, Atascosa County, and Live Oak County in 1858 and later organized in 1877

Resources

Census
1870 -- 230
1880 -- 701
1890 -- 1,038
1900 -- 1,024
1910 -- 1,091
1920 -- 952
1930 -- 1,351
1940 -- 1,374
1950 -- 1,187
1960 -- 1,116
1970 -- 1,095
1980 -- 789
1990 -- 817
2000 -- 851
2010 -- 707
Est. 2015 -- 820

Notables

Alonzo Van Oden - Texas Ranger Roots web McMullin county
Land Grants

Cemeteries


Sources

  1. ↑ https://texasalmanac.com/index.php?q=topics/government/mcmullen-county
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 2.22 2.23 2.24 2.25 2.26 2.27 2.28 2.29 2.30 https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hcm09
  3. ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 http://www.texasescapes.com/Counties/McMullen-County-Texas.htm
  4. ↑ http://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-biggest-ranches/
  5. ↑ https://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/22/how-this-tiny-county-in-texas-became-the-richest-in-america.html




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