Falfurrias

Falfurrias grew from ranching, but Lasater wanted farmers too. E. R. Rachal planted the county's first citrus trees in 1906, and the 1914 packing plant followed, yet citrus stayed a minor industry because of freezes, drought and pests. Farms in the county rose from 394 in 1920 to 513 in 1930, and cattle numbered nearly 40,000 by 1930. Oil, discovered in 1935, helped farmers pay Depression debts. Rachal was also an early county officer, serving as tax assessor, and the county's first school opened in 1912.

What the plaque says

Falfurrias Founded as a cattle shipping point by Edward C. Lasater, 1904, town bears name of a village on land he purchased in 1893. When the San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railroad extended its lines, Lasater (1860-1930) platted present townsite, built a hotel, general store, water and power plants, and cotton gin. He opened area to truck, citrus, and dairy farms. He founded South Texas' first creamery--now widely recognized. A post office, newspaper, churches, and schools were opened. A citrus packing plant was built in 1914. Still later the city became an oil and gas production center. (1971)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Heritage Museum at Falfurrias — 0.3 mi
  A free town museum of ranch gear, a Texas Ranger room and 99,000 photo negatives, in the town Edward Lasater built around his railroad and his Jersey cows.
• Don Pedrito Jaramillo Shrine — 2.2 mi
  The grave and shrine of the folk healer of Los Olmos, a place of prayer where South Texans still leave candles and letters for the curandero who took no fee.
• Kenedy Ranch Museum of South Texas — 22 mi
  A museum in the Kenedy Pasture Company's 1927 office in Sarita, telling how Mifflin Kenedy and three generations of his family shaped the Wild Horse Desert, with murals and an audio guide.
• King Ranch Visitor Center — 25 mi
  The bus-tour gate to a working ranch of about 825,000 acres, founded on Santa Gertrudis Creek in 1853 and worked from the start by the Kineños, families from Cruillas in Tamaulipas.

More markers nearby

• James Abijah Brooks — 0.8 mi
• Brooks County — 9.1 mi
• Methodist Episcopal Church, South, of Premont — 9.2 mi
• Falfurrias to Encino Road — 13 mi