Francitas

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it to you straight with a little somethin' extra on the side. We're talkin' about Francitas, down in Jackson County, and this story's got Louisiana roots, Nebraska ambition, and a name that sounds like it belongs on the French Riviera sitting right there in South Texas. Let me set the scene.

The LaBauve family came here from Louisiana back in the eighteen hundreds, put down roots, and stayed. A good number of them are buried in the nearby LaBauve Cemetery to this day. So the land already had a history, already had people who called it home, before the railroad ever showed up.

And then the railroad showed up. That was 1906, and you know how railroads had a way of changin' the whole conversation. In came two men from Nebraska, John G.

Maher and William F. Schwind, and they were not the kind of fellows who thought small. They founded the Valley Fruit Farm and Garden Co., and their plan was to put this new town on the map.

They called it Francitas. That's Spanish for Little France, and there it sat in Texas. Now here is where the story gets a little theatrical, because Maher and Schwind did not just open a town.

They threw a grand opening. December tenth, nineteen ten was the big day. And the day before that grand opening, a trainload of Nebraskans arrived.

A whole trainload. You have to picture that platform. By the time those folks stepped off, Francitas was already standin' at attention.

There was the Nebraska Inn, a lumber yard, a cannin' factory, an artesian well, houses, and a newspaper. A newspaper. The first land sales funded a schoolhouse, and a church, a post office, and a depot all opened soon after.

Within a year, Francitas had grown to four hundred and fifty people, with several crops comin' in and settlers arrivin' from states all across the country. It was movin' fast, full of promise, full of noise. The population later decreased.

That's what the marker says, quiet and plain, and sometimes the plainest line carries the most weight. Little France had its moment, bright and full, and the land remembers.

What the marker says

The LaBauve family moved here from Louisiana in the 1800s; many are buried in nearby LaBauve Cemetery. After the railroad came in 1906, Nebraskans John G. Maher and William F. Schwind founded the Valley Fruit Farm and Garden Co. to promote the new town of Francitas (Spanish for “Little France”). A trainload of Nebraskans arrived the day before the townsite’s grand opening on Dec. 10, 1910. By then, Francitas boasted the Nebraska Inn, a lumber yard, canning factory, artesian well, houses and a newspaper. The first sales funded a schoolhouse. A church, post office and depot all opened soon after. Francitas grew to 450 people within a year and soon boasted several crops and settlers from many states. The population later decreased. 175 Years of Texas Independence * 1836-2011