Town of Fashing
Fashing, Atascosa County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Near the Old San Patricio Trail, leading from San Antonio to McMullen and McGloin colony, in area of Gulf of Mexico. In this vicinity were stage stops at Belle Branch, Rock Spring, Rountree's, and Tordilla. Land was part of the Butler, Hickok, Tom and Rountree ranches. Town was platted in 1915 as "Hickok." However, after the U.S. Post Office Department disapproved that name, the tag on a popular tobacco -- "Fashion" -- inspired adoption of the name "Fashing" for the town. First schoolhouse was built in 1917; a second, 1921. The Methodist church, organized 1922, erected first house of worship (building moved in from Bastrop) in 1925. In 1934, St. Elizabeth Catholic Church was built. The Martin Luther Lutheran Church was erected 1948. Present school building was completed in 1952. A center for mineral development. First local oil production was from Weigang Field, 1946. Tordilla Hill (5 mi. N) was site of first major uranium discovery in Texas in 1954. After further petroleum strikes in Fashing Edwards Limestone Field, 1958, gas and sulfur processing plants were built by the Elcor Chemical Co., Lone Star Producing Co., Sinclair Oil and Gas Co., and Warren Petroleum Corp. Currently, the only commercial uranium operation in Texas is near here. (1968)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Platted in 1915 near the old San Patricio Trail, this town was first called 'Hickok' until the post office rejected the name and residents borrowed 'Fashing' from a popular tobacco tag reading 'Fashion.' Early life centered on schools and churches, but the ground beneath proved the town's fortune: oil arrived in 1946, the first major uranium discovery in Texas came at nearby Tordilla Hill in 1954, and gas and sulfur plants followed. Fashing became a genuine center of mid-century mineral development.
Why it matters
Fashing's transformation from a trail-side farm town into an oil, gas, sulfur, and uranium hub captures how mineral wealth reshaped the economy and landscape of twentieth-century South Texas.
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Themes & tags
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