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MIRANDO
CITY, TEXAS
Webb County, South Texas
Ranch Road 649
30 miles East of Laredo
Population:
493 (2000)
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Mirando
City Barber Shop
1920's Photo Courtesy Pablo Garcia |
Population high point:
1,500 (1929). Mirando City grew from less than 100 residents in 1922 to more than
1,000 by 1925.
History in a Pecan shell
Nicolás
Mirando was the town's namesake.
1881: The Texas Mexican Railway laid
tracks to the town and a loading platform was built for sheep and cattle.
Peyote
In addition to livestock, the area around Mirando City
has grown the peyote cactus. Webb, Zapata, Jim Hogg, and Starr counties contain
the only commercial range of peyote cactus in the U.S. "Peyoteros" have harvested
peyote for Indians in the United States (for religious ceremonies) for over a
hundred years. |
Mirando
Valley oil field, 1922
Photo Courtesy Pablo Garcia |
Oil
1921: Oliver Winfield Killam brought in the first commercial
oil well in the area. Killam, who had already promoted the town of Locust Grove
in Oklahoma, bought land in Mirando Valley and started laying out the town of
Mirando City in September 1921. Several months later, in December, a gusher at
another drilling site ushered in an oil boom. Lots began selling rapidly, and
the town quickly became the hub of activity in the oilfield.
1922: A
post office was granted.
A short history of Mirando City's water
Mirando City was established without a nearby water supply.
Until the
fall of 1922 all of the drinking water for the town was hauled from Bruni
at a cost of $13.00 per tank car. In 1922, Wm Sterling and John Long
dug wells in the nearby village of Los Ojuelos, which had flowing springs. They
then laid a pipeline to Mirando City, built a large storage tank, and installed
the town's first water meters. Heavy consumption dropped the water table and the
springs dried up. Attempts at deepening the wells worked for a short time, but
they dried up in the 1930s.
Electricity
In the fall of
1922 a power plant was built to furnish electricity. It closed after eight months
of operation but was bought in 1923 by Richard Young, and put back into
use.
Short lives in Mirando City
The Mirando City
Bank was only open from June 1922 to May 1923. The Mirando City Record
- the town's only newspaper, was first published by Weldon Pharr in June
of 1939. The weekly newspaper, although popular, stopped in 1941.
©
John Troesser
Laredo
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Mirando
City ForumMy
name is Martha Sanchez and I live in Mirando City with my four children and my
husband whom was born and raised here in Mirando. I would like to share with your
readers my comments towards Mirando. | was born and raised in Laredo and lived
in Florida for various years and although I had never been accustomed to small
towns, Mirando is a small community that one can come to visit and would want
to stay. In one sentence Mirando is like it froze in time. Being raised in Laredo
I recall living the way people live in Mirando today. There is a lot of warm hearted,
friendly and helpful people in this town. It is great how Laredo has expanded
so much but, it is very sad to see so much crime. If any of your readers has time
to stop by our small community of Mirando, you are very welcome to, you will see
the difference in the friendliness of the people that live and work in this small
town.
Greetings from Mirando! - Sincerely, Martha Sanchez, August 11,
2002
Anyone who has photos, stories or memories of Mirando City that they
would like to share with our readers - please contact
us
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