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AGUILARES,
TEXASTexas
Ghost Town
Webb
County, South Texas
Highway 359 and FM 2895
On the Texas-Mexican Railway
25 miles E of Laredo
7 miles W of Oilton
Population: 10 (1990)
Visiting
Aquilares? Book Your Hotel Here & Save
Laredo
Hotels |
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.
Visiting Aquilares? Book Your Hotel Here & Save
Laredo
Hotels |
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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