SMALL TOWN HISTORY:
Sarah Canales | Fall 2002 |
History 1302 | Hines |
Benavides, Texas
Interview With Adolfo R. Barrera
Upon interviewing Parr’s wife, Eva, Martinez was able to determine that Parr was carrying both a .45 semiautomatic gun and his AR-15 rifle, which he used for deer hunting. Parr was believed to be on his ranch, but because night had already fallen in the area, no one was willing to search for an armed man in the darkness. A plan was made to search the area by air the following morning. Within 10 minutes of satarting the aerial search, Parr’s car was discovered. Circles were made around his car by the helicopter in an attempt to see inside. When no movement was detected, the helicopter landed. Agent Martinez retreated to the car, weapon in hand and ready to take action if Parr were to be hiding in the car. However, there was no response from inside the car.
1. Why did Placido Benavides choose this land to settle?
“The elevation of Benavides. Benavides is on a Basin. In the early 1850’s people always settled where it was easier to dig a water well.”
2. Why did Placido allow the county to build a railroad depot on his land in 1880?
“It meant more commerce and trade for his business. Cattle and the railroad was the name of the game.”
3. In 1881 Placido Benavides donated 80 acres of the land around the railroad to the community. For what reasons did he do this?
“The sooner you got your cattle to the railroad the less you had to deal with bandits and rustlers and the sooner you got money in your pocket.”
4. To what would you contribute to the growth in Benavides’ economy in the 1950’s?
“The oil and gas. The big oil boom in Duval County; Mobil, Exxon, Humble, and Continental.”
5. To what would you attribute to the steady decrease in Benavides’ population since the 1950’s? Do you believe that the advance in technology such as electricity, indoor pluming, or a larger local community had any contribution to this decrease?
“To the decline in oil, the improvement of the highways, the navy base in Corpus Christi employed a lot of people from Benavides, and Texas and I educated a lot of the people. People went to school elsewhere and got jobs elsewhere.”
6. Are you familiar with Archer Parr or the Parr family? If yes, what do you know about him? Why was he considered troublesome to Duval County?
“Local office ran the boss politics. They were responsible for putting London B. Johnson in the senate and then into the Presidency. They controlled the local politics.”
7. What do you believe people would find most interesting about Benavides?
“There are people that are very proud of growing up in a small community. It’s a place to raise a family in close knit, safe environment. That’s what there proud of.”
This website provided a quick overview of the history of Benavides, presented with pictures of the town. Persons searching for a more detailed website for small towns may have to rely also on an alternative source. However, a good source for basic information.
The information at this website helped me out the most; I would have been lost without it. It was the only website to go into detail about the history of Benavides, TX, Placido Benavides, George Parr, Archie Parr, and the Texas-Mexican Railway.
The website was well organized and present in an easy to follow format. I would highly recommend this website to anyone.
This book, which was recommended by the Texas Escapes website, was a great resource for George Parr, the son of Archer Parr who was known as “The Boss of Duval County.” It was also a great resource for Benavides, TX and Archer Parr.
This book provided a brief overview of Placido Benavides in his later, ranching days.
Also provided was a brief account of the racism between white people and Mexicans in the late 1800’s of Duval County.
This book contributed a large section of its pages to Placido Benavides with a more detailed and violent view of his life. A good source for Placdio, however, the town named after Placido Benavides was never mentioned.
This book provided me with the accomplishments of Placido Benavides and his death. An overall good source of information on Texas history, but again no mention of Placidos connection to Benavides, TX was present.
This book was a great resource guide for Benavides, TX. Infact, it was the only book I found that contained a local list of public sites for this small town.
This book provided a lot of information pertaining to Archer Parr. It gave a more detailed view of his history than any other book I found.
This was the only book I found with the mention of Juan Saenz Lopez. It contained info on both him and Piedras Pintas.
Click Here For Map of Benavides
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