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WOODSBORO,
TEXAS
Refugio
County, Texas Gulf
Coast
28°14'16"N 97°19'30"W (28.237826, -97.325068)
Highway 77 and FM 2441
5 Miles SW of Refugio the
county seat
Population: 1,427 Est. (2018)
1,512 (2010) 1,685 (2000) 1,731 (1990)
Woodsboro,
Texas Area Hotels › Refugio
Hotels |
Proudly
presents W.J. Kasten general Merchandise
Click on image for full view
Courtesy Regugio County Museum, submitted by William
Beauchamp |
History
in a Pecan Shell
Planned
by northern developers around 1906, the St. Louis, Brownsville and
Mexico Railroad arrived later that same year.
By February of 1907 the town had a two-story frame hotel to accommodate
prospective buyers and a post office was opened in the hotel for the
obvious convenience.
Captain Tobias D. Wood, who sold his ranch to the developers was honored
by having his name on the postal application.
The town was promoted in the Midwest and all across Texas.
A school was built by 1908 and the community enjoyed all the basic
businesses, including a newspaper which started publishing in 1910.
The town was electrified around 1913 and by 1914 the population had
increased to 500 – a respectable figure. By the mid 1920s, the population
was 450 but when oil was discovered in the area in 1928, a minor boom
erupted.
By 1930 there were 1,286 residents – but not all were permanent. By
1941 Woodsboro had 1,426 citizens and by 1990 it had increased to
1,731. It has since declined slightly to the current 1,685. |
Pool
Hall and Players.
Click on image for full view
Courtesy Regugio County Museum, submitted by William
Beauchamp |
Historical
Marker Text
Woodsboro Square
A land development
project of W. C. Johnson and George P. Pugh of Danville, Illinois,
this town along the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway was
laid out in late 1906. A post office was established in the Bonnie
View Land Company Hotel in 1907, and the town was named for Captain
Tobias D. Wood, who had sold his Bonnie View Ranch to Johnson and
Pugh. A public square was included in the official town plat in 1908
and it became the center of the economic growth and civic enterprises
that characterized the early development of Woodsboro. The Woodsboro
Commercial Club was founded in 1914. Among its more lasting contributions
was a waterworks installed in the town square. The town was incorporated
in 1929. The plaza remains a center for civic activities in Woodsboro.
(1999) |
Woodsboro Ice
House
TE photo, 2001 |
Another view
of the Ice House
TE photo, 2001 |
| 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. |
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