West Sinton Community

The plaque places West Sinton inside the J. J. Welder ranch; the rancher himself was born in San Patricio County on July 14, 1854, a descendant of the empresario James Power. He moved to Victoria about 1886 but kept his ranch headquarters at Sinton, and his herd, spread across four counties, was among the largest in South Texas. He fought cattle ticks before the law required it, built concrete silos for ensilage, and helped push the longhorn out of the region. He also ginned cotton and built Victoria's five-story Welder Building, finished in 1913. He died in 1923.

What the plaque says

West Sinton Community In the early days of the 20th century, the land in this area was situated within the large J. J. Welder Cattle Ranch. George Paul developed much of the local acreage and attracted settlers from many states by advertising a "homesteaders" program of land sales. The settlers cleared the mesquite and brush with the help of Mexican laborers, planting cotton and corn on their new land. In 1913 Gust Adams and his family arrived from Guadalupe County. The Adams family set aside land for a schoolhouse in 1914. Also used for worship services, the structure quickly became a social center. The area became known as both Adams School and West Sinton community. More settlers came after the first World War. The community grew steadily in spite of such tragedies as the influenza epidemic of 1918 and 1919 and the devastating hurricane of 1919. Local cotton farmers established the West Sinton Gin Company in 1923 and built a gin nearby. In 1924 a two-story stucco school building was erected by the newly formed Adams Independent School District on this site. The community was large enough for a separate Mexican American school and a grocery store. Neighbors enjoyed such activities as sports, community suppers, parties, and dances. The San Patricio Farm Bureau was organized here in 1936. Electric power came to the area in 1939. The Adams School closed its doors in 1943 when the students were transferred to other area schools. The schoolhouse was used for community events until 1948. It was razed in 1962. Although the cotton gin closed in the 1980s, cotton, milo and corn remain the community's main economic focus. The Lutheran church and many local organizations continue to serve the area. (1998)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Lipantitlán State Historic Site — 9.9 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.
• Lake Corpus Christi State Park — 12 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.
• Texas State Aquarium — 23 mi
  A nonprofit aquarium on the tip of Corpus Christi Beach built around the Gulf and the Caribbean, with the largest coastal wildlife rescue center in Texas behind the exhibits.
• USS Lexington Museum on the Bay — 23 mi
  An Essex-class carrier of 1943 moored off North Beach, the Blue Ghost that Tokyo Rose kept reporting sunk, and the Navy's training carrier for nearly three decades after.

More markers nearby

• In Memory of Captain Thomas K. Pearson — 7.2 mi
• Old Cemetery on the Hill — 7.3 mi
• Odem First Baptist Church — 7.7 mi
• First United Methodist Church of Odem — 7.7 mi