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The original
Post Office in Catarina
Photo
courtesy Robert Vahle, June 2011
More Texas Post
Offices |
History in
a Pecan Shell
The
name has been associated with the area since at least 1778; legend
holds that it is the name of a Mexican woman killed by Indians on
or near the site. The town was established after Asher Richardson,
a rancher, decided to build a railway link from Artesia
Wells to his planned town of Asherton.
In return for an easement through the nearby Taft-Catarina Ranch Richardson
agreed to allow the ranch to establish a railroad depot, with cattle-shipping
pens, on his railroad. By 1910, when the Asherton and Gulf Railway
began operations, these cattle pens had become the nucleus of a small
community built by Joseph F. Green, the manager of the ranch. Green
moved the ranch headquarters to the depot and added a bunkhouse, a
commissary, a hotel, a post office, and a small schoolhouse.
By 1915 the little town had twenty-five residents and had become famous
in the area for the Taft House, an expensive mansion that Charles
Taft, the owner of the ranch, supposedly built with oversized bathtubs
to accommodate his brother, President William Howard Taft.
Catarina Farms, a development project, built roads, sidewalks, a waterworks,
an impressive new hotel and installed electric power and a telephone
exchange. Agent Charles Ladd imported entire orchards of fruit-laden
citrus trees to impress prospective
investors with the area's agricultural possibilities.
By 1929 Catarina had between 1,000 and 2,500 residents, a bank, at
least two groceries, a lumber company, and a bakery. Short supplies
of water, marketing problems, and the Great Depression damaged the
town. By 1931 the population had dropped to 592, and many of its businesses
had been forced to close. In 1943 Catarina had 403 residents and seven
businesses; in 1956 it had 380 residents and three businesses. By
1969 some of the town's most picturesque old buildings had been abandoned,
and the population was 160. In 1990 the population was forty-five.
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Catarina School
Today
Photo courtesy Robert Vahle, June 2011 |
Catarina Today
(From Catarina
by Mike Cox )
In 1997, new owners reopened the long-boarded structure for the first
time since the early days of the Cold War. It has had two owners since
then, but the property has been renovated and does a steady business
during the South Texas dove, quail, deer and turkey seasons.
Just across the highway, to give hunters a place to pick up a gift
for the wives they left behind, a combination antique and gift store
has been in business for several years.
A few blocks past the antique store, partially hidden by mesquite,
is the old Catarina School. The building has fallen to ruin, but its
poured concrete structure assures that the skeleton will survive for
years to come.
Farther down the highway, the town’s once lavish swimming pool — part
of the Catarina Farms development — is debris-filled. The country
club building adjacent to it is long gone.
The Catarina cemetery, located at the end of a winding unpaved road
a couple of miles from town, is overgrown with mesquite, though some
burials occurred there in the 1980s and 1990s. But the location of
the final resting place of the woman who gave the area her name is
as uncertain as the existence of the ghosts who supposedly haunt the
old hotel. Read
full article |
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Catarina School
in a sad state of deterioration
Photo courtesy Robert Vahle, June 2011 |
| Photo
courtesy Robert Vahle, June 2011 |
Catarina, Texas
Old Photos
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Catarina street
scene, 1927
Photo
courtesy texasoldphotos.com |
A Tour for Prospective
Landbuyers, Nov. 9, 1926
Click on image to enlarge
Photo
Courtesy Jason
Penney |
Closeup of above
1926 photo showing Catarina Winter Garden Farms Excursion
Courtesy Jason
Penney |
Forum:
Subject: Catarina Hotel
My parents ran
the
hotel and restaurant back in 1978 - 1979, so it had been open
since the cold war.
The first and second story were open, the other floors were closed.
We had many fireplaces. Our cook's name was Manuella. It was a magical
place to live. - Thank you, Lana Jones, September 11, 2018
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Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
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