Penitas
Penitas, Hidalgo County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The community of Peñitas, which derives its name, meaning "Little Pebbles," from area gravel deposits, traces its origins to the colonization efforts of Spaniard José de Escandón. In 1749, he settled families on the Villa of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de Reynosa land grant in Mexico. Peñitas developed on a section of the ejidos (town commons) north of Reynosa as grazing land for livestock. Escandón selected a site west of Reynosa for a mission. Soon, another small mission, San Joaquín del Monte, formed, ministering to indigenous people and to settlers living on the north bank. The mission also protected colonists from attacks. This area quickly became the focus of commercial trade for its mother city of Reynosa as residents gathered here to sell and purchase goods. The salt trade became specially prosperous for settlers; salt was essential for preserving food and curing hides. By the 1760s, a number of settlers worked on ranches on the north bank of the Rio Grande. By 1767, the Spanish government granted porciones (allotments of land) to certain colonists, while other rented land on the ejidos for ranching or farming. Soon, ranching communities developed on the ejidos, including the Peñitas, Tabasco and Ojo de Agua ranches, which were forerunners of the towns of Peñitas, La Joya and Abra, respetively. In the mid-1800s, Peñitas became a refueling stop for steamboat traffic and by the early 20th century had residences, stores, a cemetery, a post office, a school and a stop on the St. Louis, Brownsville & Mexico Railroad. Today, Peñitas, which incorporated in 1992, continues to thrive as a community rich in cultural heritage. (2007)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Peñitas—"Little Pebbles," named for local gravel—grew from the mid-18th-century colonization of José de Escandón, who in 1749 settled families on the Reynosa land grant along the Rio Grande. On the common lands north of the river, ranching communities took root, protected by the small mission of San Joaquín del Monte that ministered to Indigenous people and settlers alike. A prosperous salt trade, Spanish porciones granted in the 1760s, and later a steamboat landing and railroad stop carried the community into the modern era.
Why it matters
It reflects the Spanish colonial founding of the lower Rio Grande Valley, a heritage of missions, ranching, and river trade that long predates Anglo settlement of Texas.
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Related people
- · José de Escandón
Related events
- · Spanish colonization of the lower Rio Grande
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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Long before Spanish colonizers arrived, Indigenous travelers used a natural ford across the Rio Grande here, and around 1746 Jacinto de León marked the crossing that would bear his name. When José de Escandón's colonization push reached the region, Tomás Sánchez de la Barrera founded a ranching settlement nearby in 1755 that grew into Laredo. Maps later relabeled the ford "Paso de los Indios," a memory of its far older use, as cattle, sheep, and the salt trade moved across the river.
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