Papalote Creek
Beeville, Bee County, Texas
Marker Inscription
A few yards south passes Papalote Creek, crossed by the fierce Karankawa Indians who found kite-shaped pebbles and named it Papalote, which means "kite-shaped" or "wing-shaped". Along its banks came the leaders of the Power and Hewetson colonists, holding Mexican land grants in the 1830's. On its Rata tributary there is evidence the Mexican Army camped on its way to suppress the Texas Revolution. By 1857 the town of Papalote had emerged. It was the center of entertainment for the county, boasting of a circular dance hall built by cowboys trading steer yearlings at $3 a head for lumber. There were rooster fights, ring tournaments and horse races. In 1886, when the railroad came, the town was booming. After the turn of the century, however, Papalote began to die away. A land company sold lots to settlers from as far away as Hawaii. Expecting to grow citrus fruits, they were disillusioned when the first killing frost doomed the project. Threats of Pancho Villa's raids continued as late as 1916, when women and children hid in a brick schoolhouse. In 1948, Main Street was bypassed by U.S. Highway 181. Today there is no post office--only a rural route for the few remaining households. (1965)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The fierce Karankawa people crossed this creek and named it for the kite-shaped pebbles along its bed, and in the 1830s the leaders of the Power and Hewetson colonies passed here under Mexican land grants; tradition holds the Mexican Army camped on a tributary while marching to crush the Texas Revolution. By 1857 the town of Papalote had grown into the county's center of amusement, boasting a cowboy-built dance hall, cockfights, and horse races, and it boomed when the railroad arrived in 1886. The twentieth century undid it — a failed citrus scheme, fears of Pancho Villa's raids, and finally the 1948 highway bypass — until only a scattering of households remained.
Why it matters
Papalote Creek layers Indigenous, Mexican, and Anglo Texas history into a single stream, tracing a frontier community's rise and slow disappearance.
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Related events
- · Texas Revolution
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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