Town of Dinero

Dinero's name is a better story than its history. The Handbook says the place began as Barlow's Ferry, after E. Barlow, who ran ferries across the Nueces for ranchers in 1846, and that the 1872 change to Dinero more likely reflected cotton, dairies and later oil and gas than any hidden silver. George Wright's general store brought the post office in 1885, when about twenty people lived here. The town moved a mile west to the railroad in 1914, and it has never grown beyond a few hundred residents. The marker stands on private land.

What the plaque says

Town of Dinero Dinero was settled in the year 1838 by farmers and ranchers. The town was first named "Barlow" after the local ferry operator. The townspeople were instrumental in organizing Live Oak County, 1856; they started a school by 1858. By about 1872, rumors of money ("dinero" in Spanish) buried here led the town to change its name. A post office was established in 1885. Town buildings were moved a mile west, 1913, to be on a new rail line. In 1925 Dinero piped its first natural gas to Houston. Oil and gas continue to bolster its economy. The local landmark is hanging tree (200 yards southwest). One famous resident was J. Frank Dobie (1888-1964), Texas author. (1970)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Lake Corpus Christi State Park — 13 mi
  A lake park in the South Texas brush country above Mathis, on a reservoir of the Nueces, with a Civilian Conservation Corps refectory and more than 200 bird species.
• Lipantitlán State Historic Site — 20 mi
  Five undeveloped acres on the Nueces named for the Lipan Apaches who camped here, where Mexico built an earth-and-rail fort that Texans took early in the Revolution.
• Choke Canyon State Park — 30 mi
  A reservoir state park on the Frio River in two units, built after a 1982 dam, with birds, alligators and fishing on land people have crossed for more than 10,000 years.

More markers nearby

• Site of Fort Merrill — 3.9 mi
• Echo Stagecoach Depot and Post Office — 6.0 mi
• Gussettville — 6.9 mi
• Lagarto Cemetery — 7.1 mi