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South Texas Ghost Town
AGUILARES, TEXASWebb
County
Highway 359 and FM 2895
On the Texas-Mexican Railway
25 miles
E of Laredo
7 miles W of Oilton
Population: 10 (1990)
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Aguilar Brothers Merchantile Store & Aquilares Post Office c. 1911 Photo
Courtesy Pablo Garcia |
History in a Pecan
Shell
Aguilares
dates from the 1870s and was named after first settlers and ranchers José, Locario,
Francisco, Próspero, and Librado Aguilar. It became a stop on the Texas-Mexican
Railroad in 1881 and was granted a post office nine years later. The population
(thought to be a huge exaggeration) was given as 1,500 in 1910 - but four years
later it was reportedly a mere 300. The Aguilar family owned a store - one of
the town's two businesses.
Oil was discovered nearby in OIlton and for
a short time the town seemed to have a future - but although (or because) it was
on a railroad - it lost population to the nearby county seat of Laredo.
In the 1930s the post office was discontinued and in 1939 Aquilares' population
was given as 10.
It rose to 25 by 1945 but the 1990 census again reported
ten residents. Aguilares modest claim to fame was being the birthplace of television
and movie character actor Pedro
Gonzalez-Gonzalez.
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©
John Troesser |
Pedro
Gonzalez-Gonzalez
A
Guy So Nice - They Named Him Twice
Almost
literally "born in a trunk" - Pedro Gonzalez-Gonzalez entered the world in Aquilares,
Texas (now considered a ghost town) in 1926. His mother was a dancer from Mexico
and his father was a trumpet player from Floresville, Texas. Mrs. Gonzalez performed
under the stage name "La Perla Fronteriza" (Pearl of the Frontier" and reportedly
once danced for Francisco "Poncho" Villa and his troops during one or another
of the Mexican Revolutions. ... more |
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