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PAWNEE,
TEXASBee County,
South Texas
FMs 673 and 798
22 Miles NW of Beeville
Population: 201 (2000) |
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History
in a Pecan Shell
The name is said to come from a board with the inscription
"Pawnee" that someone had nailed to a tree. Prior to the establishment of Bee
County, an Irish family named Sullivan bought much of the land where Pawnee now
stands. After a series of transfers, Rancher W. J. Lott became owner of the land
and split his spread into smaller parcels in the 1890s. Pawnee's first school
was built in 1910, about the same time the first store opened. Pawnee prospered
in the 1920s and at one time had four grocery stores, a physican. druggist, blacksmith
and garage. Oil was discovered in 1930.
Pawnee's church history is more
colorful than most Texas towns of its size. For a small town, Pawnee had Baptist,
Catholic, Church of Christ, Swedish Lutheran, German Lutheran, Methodist, and
Pentecostal congregations. A brick school was build in 1936 and the population
reached it's high-water mark of 300 just as the United States was entering WWII.
The post war population was just 225 when the town was granted a post office around
1950. The town's businesses all closed prior to 1980. The population has declined
from the 1990 Census of 249 to the current 201 residents. |
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Cotton
Gin in Pawnee
TE photo, June 2004
More Cotton
Gins | |
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