Willacy County

The county as drawn today came from a quarrel between ranchers and farmers. Willacy was created in 1911 with Sarita as seat, but a 1921 reorganization sent the northern ranch country to a new Kenedy County and left a narrow southern strip as Willacy. John Gregory Kenedy gave a strip 1.42 miles wide along the new line. Raymondville won the county seat over protests from Lyford, and Samuel Lamar Gill became the first county judge. Bermuda onions, introduced by Milt White in 1912, became the leading crop.

What the plaque says

Willacy County Formed from Cameron and Hidalgo counties; created March 11, 1911, recreated April 2, 1921; organized August 12, 1911, reorganized August 13, 1921. Named in honor of John G. Willacy; born November 10, 1859; member of the Texas Legislature 1900-1916; State Tax Commissioner, 1922-1926; County Seat, Sarita, 1911, Raymondville, since 1921. (1936)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Museum of South Texas History — 26 mi
  Edinburg's regional museum, begun in 1967 in the 1910 Hidalgo County jail and now telling the Rio Grande's story from fossils and native peoples through steamboats to the 20th century.
• Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge — 32 mi
  A coastal refuge set up in 1946 for wintering redhead ducks, with 417 bird species recorded and, by the Fish and Wildlife Service's account, the largest ocelot population in the United States.

More markers nearby

• Edward Burleson Raymond — 0.4 mi
• Lyford — 5.0 mi
• Lasara — 7.6 mi
• Great Salt Lake — 8.0 mi