Palo Alto College

San Antonio, Texas

Cuero,TX

Cody Shaw & Taffy Wise	Spring 2004
History 1302	Hines

ORIGINS:

Cuero got started back in 1831 on July 5. Father J. Antonio Valdez purchased the land from the state of Coahuila y Texas. Cuero was a branch of the then town Indianola. Mr. Charles Morgan from New York City also helped Cuero transform from grazing cattle land to a thriving small town. Morgan was a big name in the shipping industry. Before the civil war Morgan had established a monopoly of transportation in the Texas Gulf region. In the later 1800’s more railroad companies were moving in offering more competition and even more new railways. The railroad finally brought tracks to Cuero when the Cuero Land and Immigration Company was founded on Christmas day 1871, creating a state chartered private corporation. On February 13, 1872 and a few days later Col. Schleicher, one of the founders of the immigration corporation, gained legal title to the property of Cuero and Immigration company.
ECONOMY:

Business for Cuero mainly consists of farming and agriculture. In early Cuero it was immigration, railways, and mainly wealthy businessmen. Cuero at one time around the 1940's, was one of the biggest cattle producing towns in the state. On top of that they also ginned cotton and sold wool. Later it became a shipping station for trains going to the gulf. Cuero still holds onto its economy with numerous businesses and ranches surrounding the downtown.

HISTORICALLY SIGNIFICANT STORIES?:

Back around the 1940's while elections were going on a black man had approached a white at the store were they tallied out the votes. He asked her if she would mind buying him some cigarettes. This was then she realized that none of the blacks in the town where not allowed to go into any white stores on election days or even at night.
Schools:

On May 27, 1884 the first public school was built. There were 336 white children and 326 colored children. Cuero Independent School District was created by the government on August 31, 1911. In 1912 Professor A.S. Bush was elected the first superintendent.

In 1928, a bond issue was approved to build the first high school in Cuero, and for the first elementary school. The first gymnasium was built in 1938. In 1972 bonds were granted to the district to build air-conditioning systems for the high school and for the elementary schools. Eight years later a new high school was built and the other was torn down. During the late 1940’s a school was built for the black citizens.

Although the first school of recognition was the John C. French School. All grades of 1st through 10th attended in the two story building. Younger students were on the first floor and the older on the second floor. The first graduating class was in 1896, and consisted of only four people. There was also a school for black students at the time, the school was called Daule School and also had grades 1st through 10th attending. The first high school was built in 1912.

St. Michael’s School was built in 1887 after the Catholics were organized in a parish with a church. Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word of San Antonio ran the school. Many students were boarded along with the sisters in their home on the second floor of the school.
Religion:

Organized in 1927, the Assembly of God Church celebrates over 62 years of practice. Also there is the First Baptist Church which was organized in 1878 on February 20. It started out to be a Union Church that was owned by Methodists, Presbyterians, and Baptists. The Baptists shared the church with the Methodists, but moved when they had their owned building of worship in 1885 on the site of the present church.

There are other buildings of different denominations, such as the Grace Episcopal Church, United Methodist Church, Presbyterian Church, St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, and St. Michael's Parish.
UNUSUAL EVENTS?:
A famous festival called “Turkey Fest”, was started in 1912 as the Turkey Trot, but did not become official until 1972 when it gained national recognition with the new title of Cuero Centennial Turkey Trot.

Cuero was not known for raising turkeys, so every Thanksgiving and Christmas it was customary for the owners to drive their wild flocks on foot.

So one day someone suggested how this might be a neat thing for others to see. Jim Howerton, a publisher for the Cuero Record promoted this idea and asked others to enter their turkeys in this civic festival. In the early 1900’s the turkey trot was a very popular dance, and others used this to promote the festival as well.
CONNECTIONS TO COURSE THEMES: Connection that this has with the course is that the town was pretty much founded by immigrants. After the The hurricane of 1886 that completely demolished Indianola, people of the destroyed town moved to new places. Cuero was one of the main settlements for these refugees.
PHOTOGRAPHS:

WEBSITES:
Map of Cuero,Tx
Dewitt Wildflower Association
Read interview with Joe and Mary Sheppard
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY:
www.city-data.com/city/cuero-Texas.html-this site is very helpful when it comes to the statistics of the town .It gives schools, churches, and major businesses
www.cuero.org-The official Chamber of Commerce site. This site is not very resourceful, but sends you to sites in the town that can help find information.
www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online.articles/view/CC/hfc.18.html This site is very Resourceful, it gives a whole overview on the history of the town.
www.stmichaels-cuero.org– This church website gives times and dates of mass. It even gives a short History of its long existence.

Books:
Dewitt County History Printed and Published in the United States by Curtis Media Corporation, 1931 Market Center Blvd., Suite 105, Dallas Texas 75207- This book was the most resourceful. It gave us all of the names and history of the town that any one could possibly ask for. This was our most used resource.
Muleshoe & More Bradfield ,Bill & Clare Gulf Publishing Company Book Division P.O. Box 2608 Houston, Texas 77252-2608-This book gave the origin of the name of Cuero. It also has all of the other towns and cities of Texas as well.
Syers ,Ed. Back roads of Texas. Gulf Publishing Company, 1988.- this book gives slight details of places to see in Texas. It was not very helpful though.

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