Nuecestown (4 Miles North)
Corpus Christi, Nueces County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Henry L. Kinney (b. 1914), who founded Corpus Christi, established Nuecestown in 1852 at the location of the first ferry crossing on the Nueces River west of Corpus Christi. He sent agents to Europe, primarily England and Germany, to promote his new settlement. Each immigrant purchased 100 acres of land, a town lot, and 10 head of cattle. Nuecestown, known locally as "The Motts" because of several clusters of trees, grew to have, in addition to the ferry, a hotel, packery, and one of the county's first cotton gins. A Post Office opened in 1859. After the Civil War it was a gathering place for cattle drovers in the area herding longhorns to be driven to northern railheads. On Good Friday, March 26, 1875, Mexican bandits entered the region on a raid, causing many Corpus Christi residents to flee. After plundering the Frank Store (3 miles east), the raiders turned on Nuecestown, looting and burning T.J. Noake's store and Post Office, killing one man, and capturing several hostages. A party of citizens pursued the attackers unsuccessfully, and another man was killed. When bypassed by the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway about 1905, Nuecestown began to decline. The post office closed in 1927. (1973)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Henry L. Kinney, founder of Corpus Christi, laid out Nuecestown in 1852 at the first ferry crossing on the Nueces River, luring English and German immigrants with cheap land and cattle. Nicknamed "The Motts" for its clumps of trees, the town gained a hotel, a packery, and one of the county's earliest cotton gins, and after the Civil War became a rendezvous for cattle drovers pointing longhorns north. On Good Friday 1875 raiders plundered and burned much of the settlement; when the railroad bypassed it around 1905, Nuecestown withered, and its post office closed in 1927.
Why it matters
Nuecestown's rise as an immigrant colony and cattle-trade waypoint — and its collapse once the rails passed it by — is the boom-and-bust story of countless South Texas frontier towns.
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Related people
- · Henry L. Kinney
Related events
- · Nuecestown Raid of 1875
Themes & tags
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