Kenedy County
Sarita, Kenedy County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Kenedy County, Created April 2, 1921 out of Cameron, Willacy and Hidalgo counties. Named for Mifflin Kenedy 1818-1895, sent to Texas in 1846 on United States Army supply boats, commercial navigator of the Rio Grande 1848-1860. Sarita is the county seat.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Kenedy County was carved from Cameron, Willacy, and Hidalgo counties in 1921 and named for Mifflin Kenedy, who came to Texas in 1846 aboard U.S. Army supply boats and went on to become a leading commercial navigator of the Rio Grande. Kenedy built a steamboat and ranching empire along the lower river before his death in 1895, and the tiny town of Sarita serves as the seat of the sparsely peopled county that bears his name. The county's late creation reflects the slow settlement of the vast South Texas ranchlands.
Why it matters
The county honors the riverboat entrepreneurs who opened the lower Rio Grande to commerce and whose great ranches still define the landscape of South Texas.
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Related people
- · Mifflin Kenedy
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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