|
CUERO, TEXAS
DeWitt County Seat, Central
Texas South
29° 5' 37" N, 97° 17' 28" W (29.093611, -97.291111)
Highways 183, 77A, and 87
28 Miles NW of Victoria
33 Miles SE of Gonzales
About 37 Miles SW of Hallettsville
ZIP code 77954
Area code 361
Population: 8,236 est.(2019)
6,841 (2010) 6,571 (2000) 6,700 (1990)
Book Hotel Here › Cuero
Hotels |
A Victorian strip
on Cuero's Highway 183 (Alt 77).
Photo courtesy Stephen
Michaels, July 2008 |
History
in a Pecan Shell
DeWitt County’s
first post office opened in 1846 in a store four miles north of present-day
Cuero. This town was also called Cuero, after the creek of the same
name. The Gulf, Western Texas and Pacific Railroad chose Cuero as
a stop since it was equidistant between the port of Indianola
and San Antonio. The
railroad arrived
in January of 1873 and by 1876 Cuero took the title of county seat
from the railroad-deficient town of Clinton.
Hurricanes in 1875 and 1886 crippled and then killed Indianola
– creating an influx of people and businesses. It was the shot-in-the-arm
that the fledgling town needed – and it had long term effects.
The town suffered a devastating fire in the Spring of 1879 and lawlessness
threatened to get a foothold until local law-enforcement was bolstered
by the Home Protection Club, a police auxiliary.
In 1886 the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway (SAAP) added a line
to Houston. Cuero had the
potential to rival Victoria
with its potential exploitation of the Guadalupe
River, but the river proved not to be navigable. The following
year Cuero had a population of 2,500 and what seemed to be a limitless
future.
The town had the economic boost of a railroad machine shop and a large
textile factory with steam-powered looms. Cuero had one of the states
largest cottonseed oil mills in the 1890s and its long-running turkey
industry shipped birds nationwide for the first four decades of the
20th century.
Cuero’s population reached 3,671 by the mid-1920s and the hydroelectric
dam built on the Guadalupe
River was once the largest in Texas.
By the mid-1940s the population rose to 5,474 and reached 7,498 in
the next decade. Cuero was the state’s largest shipper of cattle in
1942 and 1943.
In the late 1960s Cuero reached its high-water mark with 7,800 residents.
In the mid-1980s it had declined to just over 7,000. The county
courthouse was restored in the mid 1950s and has just completed
another restoration in 2008. The DeWitt County Historical Museum shares
space with the chamber of commerce in the former post office. The
population was 6,571 for the 2000 census. |
Cuero, Texas
Landmarks & Attractions
|
"Making
the best use of a narrow alley since 1879."
TE Photo, July 2008 |
A stone bouquet
graces a former drugstore.
Photo courtesy Stephen
Michaels, July 2008 |
A familiar device
on the former post office.
TE photo, July 2008 |
Ghost Sign for
the benefit of the "pedestrian trade."
Photo courtesy Stephen
Michaels, July 2008 |
Squares
on rectangles: A rare 7up Ghost Sign
Photo courtesy Stephen
Michaels, July 2008 |
Yet another restoration
in progress.
TE Photo, July 2008 |
Runge and Company:
One of the many businesses that relocated from Indianola
TE Photo, July 2008 |
A downtown threshold.
TE photo , July 2008 |
Cuero, Texas
Vintage Photos
|
Cuero, Texas
main street
1910 postcard |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Cuero
Chronicles:
Chupacabra
by Mike Cox
Cuero
Turkey Trot
"Get
Along Little Turkeys..." by Mike Cox
... The first Cuero turkey drive to
make the newspapers came in November 1910, when Rudolph and Oscar
Egg of the small, German-rooted community of Meyersville
drove 1,200-plus turkeys to the county seat for sale at the processing
plant, which one newspaper indelicately referred to as a "slaughter
house." It took the brothers and six hired hands on horseback two
days to herd the birds 13 miles into town.
Soon, Cuero had two processing plants
and cold storage facilities. Given the area's mild climate, abundant
open land and natural food sources, turkey raising in DeWitt
County took off faster than a startled Tom. By 1914, Cuero
shipped more turkeys than any other place in the nation.
One turkey drive had 8,000 birds flapping and pecking their way
along Main Street on their way to becoming holiday meals. But there
would be larger herds.... Full
article ›
|
 |
| Texas
Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories,
landmarks and recent or vintage photos, please contact
us. |
|
|
HOME
