Runge, Texas

The plaque ends on Runge's farms and oil; it leaves out May 6, 1930. That day a tornado crossed the seven miles between Nordheim and Runge, cutting a swath about 300 yards wide and 15 miles long. The Handbook of Texas counts 27 killed and 34 injured in the south part of Runge, and 36 died along the storm's path. Sharecroppers made up nearly half the dead in the area; one tenant farmer, Saragoza Garcia, lost his wife, six children and mother-in-law. Local writers say the storm partly explains why the downtown is as small as it is.

What the plaque says

Runge, Texas Early Texas town. Near site where Old Ox-Cart Road from San Antonio to Indianola crossed the Ojo de Agua (Spanish name meaning "eye of water" or spring) Creek. Here pioneer travelers found essentials of water, wood, and grass. Numerous Indian artifacts found nearby indicate that Karankawas, Tonkawas, Apaches, and Comanches camped or hunted in vicinity. First Anglo-American settlement here, in early 1850s, was named Sulphur Springs; in the late 1850s and 1860s the place was called Mineral Spring. In 1886 a group of Cuero merchants known as H. Runge and Company bought a large tract of land on which they platted the townsite of Runge. The San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railroad, called the "SAP", extended its line from Kenedy toward Houston and built a depot, a switch, and stockpens at Runge. The first post office was established here September 20, 1887. By 1890 Runge had grown to be the largest town in Karnes County. The public schools were organized in 1891 and Runge citizens engaged in many typical pioneer social and civic activities, including weekly band concerts held in the town square. The economy of the region has been sustained by farming, ranching, dairying, and petroleum production. (1969)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Panna Maria — 12 mi
  The Silesian village on a plateau above the San Antonio River that claims the oldest permanent Polish settlement in America, with a church of 1878 and a ceiling found again in 2000.
• Goliad State Park and Historic Site — 25 mi
  Mission Espíritu Santo on the San Antonio River, a mission ranch whose herds seeded Texas cattle country, rebuilt from ruin by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.
• Zaragoza Birthplace State Historic Site — 26 mi
  A rebuilt stone house beside La Bahía marking where Ignacio Seguín Zaragoza, the general of the Battle of Puebla and Cinco de Mayo, was born in 1829.
• Presidio La Bahía — 26 mi
  A Spanish fort on its third site since 1749, held in turn by filibusters, insurgents and Fannin's Fort Defiance, rebuilt in stone in the 1960s around a chapel that never fell.

More markers nearby

• Runge Bandstand — steps away
• Nordheim Shooting Club — 6.5 mi
• Jubilee Park Pavilion — 6.6 mi
• Cabeza — 6.6 mi