Kingsville Cotton Mill

The woman the school now honors was born on the ranch. Alice Gertrudis King, daughter of Richard and Henrietta King, arrived at Santa Gertrudis on April 29, 1862, went away at nine to a Presbyterian girls' school in Danville, Kentucky, and finished as salutatorian at a St. Louis seminary. After her 1886 marriage to Robert Justus Kleberg she raised money for Spohn Hospital in Corpus Christi, blessed in 1905, and led the committee that rebuilt it after the 1919 hurricane. She died in 1944, three years before the mill became her school, and is buried in Chamberlain Cemetery.

What the plaque says

Kingsville Cotton Mill Promotional efforts by William D. McNeill (1860-1925) of North Carolina resulted in construction of the Kingsville Cotton Mill on this site in 1921. Interested citizens supported the project with an investment of $150,000. Production began on Feb. 22, 1922, with McNeill's son-in-law, David H. Jones (1876-1964), as superintendent of the mill. Using locally grown cotton, the plant produced yarn which was shipped to the north and east for manufacturing carpets. Closed in 1924 because of low profits, the factory was leased and reopened the same year by San Antonio Cotton Mill. The new management made Ford Model-T transmission and brake band linings and later packaging twine. During peak production, the mill processed 264 pounds of cotton an hour and employed 250 workers, greatly contributing to the economy of the town. The San Antonio Cotton Mill ended its operation in 1935. Paul Danforth (1886-1949) leased the building during World War II (1941-45) to make cotton twine and khaki belts for military uniforms. At the end of the war, the factory was closed and the machinery sold. The King Ranch acquired the property, converted it into what is now the Alice G. K. Kleberg Elementary School in 1947, and presented it to the community as a gift. (1975)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• King Ranch Visitor Center — 1.8 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.
• Kenedy Ranch Museum of South Texas — 21 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.
• Don Pedrito Jaramillo Shrine — 25 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.
• Heritage Museum at Falfurrias — 26 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.

More markers nearby

• Uriah Lott — 0.6 mi
• First United Methodist Church of Kingsville — 0.6 mi
• First Presbyterian Church of Kingsville — 0.6 mi
• First Baptist Church of Kingsville — 0.7 mi