Duval County

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Duval County. Now settle in, because this is a place that didn't just happen overnight. The Texas Legislature created Duval County back in 1858, but the county didn't get itself organized until 1879.

That's a gap worth noticin'. Sometimes a place takes its time before it's ready to become something. And Duval County, when it finally got going, became something worth talkin' about.

Early settlers had been comin' to this stretch of South Texas from Mexico in the mid-nineteenth century, putting down roots in land they knew and understood. Then in the 1860s, Anglo pioneers started arrivin', and the early economy took the shape most South Texas stories take. Ranching.

Agriculture. The rhythm of cattle and crops, season after season. But here's where the story shifts.

In the late 1870s, the railroad came through. Now, a railroad doesn't just bring trains. It brings employment.

It brings population. It brings a whole new heartbeat to a place that had been movin' at a slower pace. People followed the rails, and Duval County grew.

Then came the early 1900s, and the ground itself started givin' up secrets. Oil. Gas.

Uranium. All of it discovered right there beneath Duval County soil. The economy got a boost, settlement increased, and a county that had waited twenty-one years just to get organized found itself sittin' on more than anyone livin' there in 1858 could have imagined.

Some counties are made by the Legislature. Duval County was made by what was underneath it all along.

What the marker says

Created by the Texas Legislature in 1858 and organized in 1879, Duval County played an important role in the economic and political development of South Texas. Early settlers came to this area in the mid-19th century from Mexico, and Anglo pioneers began arriving in the 1860s. The early economy was based on ranching and agriculture. In the late 1870s the railroad brought increased employment and population to the county. The discovery of oil, gas, and uranium in the early 1900s boosted the economy and caused increased settlement in the region. (1996)