George West, Texas

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Chuck Briseno
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Rivers & Roads in Song near George West

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near George West.

U.S. Route 59 9 songs Nueces River 3 songs Frio River 13 songs San Antonio River 2 songs

History of George West

Unlocking the Eagle Ford Shale RoadyGoat

As you drive through the George West area, the biggest science story isn't visible on the surface—it's happening two miles straight down. You're traveling over the Eagle Ford Shale, a layer of rock packed with oil and natural gas. For decades, we knew the energy was there, but it was locked in tight rock, impossible to get out. The breakthrough was a combination of two engineering feats: horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or 'fracking.' First, engineers drill down vertically for thousands of feet, and then steer the drill bit to turn a full 90 degrees, drilling horizontally for miles through the thin shale layer. Then, they pump a high-pressure mixture of water, sand, and chemicals into the well. This creates tiny cracks, or fractures, in the rock. The sand props these cracks open, allowing the trapped oil and gas to finally flow out. This technology is what turned George West into an energy boomtown in the 21st century.

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The County Seat Fight of 1919 RoadyGoat

The Live Oak County Courthouse is the heart of George West, but it stands here because of a political fight. For decades, the county seat was in Oakville, a town a few miles to the north. But George West was built for the specific purpose of taking that title. By 1919, founder George W. West’s plan was in full motion. His town was growing, thanks to his free-lot incentives and its prime location on the railroad. The battle came down to a county-wide vote. Pro-George West boosters argued for its central location and modern amenities, while Oakville fought to keep its status. When the votes were counted, George West won by a landslide. The story goes that county records were loaded onto wagons and brought here, and the grand courthouse you can still see today was quickly built, cementing the victory and sealing Oakville’s fate as a near ghost town.

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George West, TX RoadyGoat

George West's history is deeply rooted in the cattle industry. The city was named for George Washington West, a cattle rancher who began building his town in 1913 after years of ranching in the area. West made his fortune on cattle drives but saw the future in transporting cattle by train. He offered the San Antonio, Uvalde and Gulf Railroad $100,000 and a free easement through his land to build to George West. In 1918, West offered $75,000 to build a new courthouse if the county seat was moved from Oakville to George West, which was on a railroad route. The courthouse was built to West's specifications and he also built schools, roads, and water and electricity plants.

West, George Washington

1867

George West, cattleman and trail driver, eldest of three sons of Washington and Mary B. (Willauer) West, was born at Shannonville, Tennessee, on March 10, 1851. In 1854 Washington West moved his family to Lavaca County, Texas, and their home became an important stagecoach stop, which developed into the community of Sweet Home. George was one of the first to drive longhorn cattle to the Kansas railheads in 1867–68, and he continued driving until the trails closed. In 1870 he contracted with the government to deliver 14,000 longhorns to the Rosebud Indian Reservation in Montana. Although he was the youngest man with the herd, he was the trail boss, and this drive, from Lavaca County, Texas, to the destination, just 100 miles south of the Canadian border, probably qualifies as the longest trail drive on record. George had two brothers, Ike and Sol, who were also trail drivers in the period 1870–90. George West married Katherine "Kittie" Elizabeth Searcy, a descendant of the early American colonist John Searcy on June 18, 1874. They had no children. During the 1870s West made many drives to Kansas, Nebraska, Montana, Wyoming, and the Dakotas. In 1880 he and his wife moved to Live Oak County and purchased a 140,000-acre ranch and 26,000 cattle. This ranch included the site of the present town of George West, which he founded in 1913, and extended from the Nueces River on the north and east to McMullen County on the west. He had 80,000 cattle in 1882, when he lost so many in the drought that he had to sell off half of his ranch. J. Frank Dobie , another Live Oak County son, records that cowboys employed by West were instructed to chop off the left horn of every dead steer and bring it to a pile at the ranch headquarters. After the height of the pile exceeded that of the gatepost and was estimated at between 3,000 and 20,000 dead animals, they quit. About the turn of the century West sold 60,000 acres to Charles Simmons , of St. Louis, Missouri, who subdivided it, held a lottery for lots, and established the town of Simmons, Texas, in 1907. About 1910 West also turned his efforts toward colonization and town development by donating $100,000 and a free right-of-way through his ranch to the San Antonio, Uvalde and Gulf Railroad (called the "Sausage Line"), and the railroad became a reality in 1912. He also established the town named in his honor in the succeeding years and built a $75,000 courthouse in order to remove the county seat from Oakville, a $50,000 school, highways, bridges, public utilities, and a hotel across from the railroad depot. He moved to a permanent residence in San Antonio in 1904 and attended the Baptist Church there. He died in San Antonio on February 16, 1926.

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Thelma Laura Pugh-Lindholm

1835

A fourth-generation Texan, Thelma Pugh-Lindholm descended from Irish emigrants Thomas and Margaret (McCann) Pugh, who purchased from Empresarios McMullen and McGloin in 1835 a Mexican league and labor of land across the Nueces River from present-day George West. Born in 1898 to grandson Charles and Lucy (Crawford) Pugh, Thelma grew up on the original Pugh homestead. First educated at home, Thelma then lived with her mother’s parents to attend school in Oakville. Grandfather Crawford sparked a love in Thelma for Live Oak County and Texas History. Later living with an aunt, Thelma graduated from Three Rivers High School. She acquired a teaching certificate then a baccalaureate and master’s degree with her thesis on the history of Oakville from Texas College of Arts and Industries (Texas A&J) in Kingsville. She continued studies at the University of Texas and Texas A&M. Thelma remained faithful to the memory of Sgt. Major John E.E. Lindholm, a veteran of WWI, missing after a post-war assignment. Their daughter, Emelia Lucille Lindholm, died at the age of 10 from diphtheria. She and her mother (deceased 1992) are buried in Gussettville Cemetery. Thelma Lindholm taught on ranches and in George West ISD for 47 years. A devout catholic, she taught catechism and tutored many toward general education diplomas and U.S. Citizenship. In addition, Thelma wrote more than 20 Live Oak County historical narratives for official Texas historical markers. During the 1980s Texas Sesquicentennial, she chaired the Live Oak County Historical Commission. She anthologized more than 655 memoirs and wrote the county chapter for The History of the People of Live Oak County, Texas. Thelma Laura Pugh-Lindholm is commemorated as “the mother of live oak county history.” (2017)

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Live Oak County Courthouse

1912

The Texas Legislature created Live Oak County in 1852 and the first county seat was in Oakville. A native stone and lumber building constructed on the public square and modified through the years served as the county courthouse for more than sixty years. With the arrival of railroads in the 1910s, the county’s population was growing. Noted cattleman George Washington West (1885-1926), who owned a sprawling 200,000-acre ranch, laid out the town of George West in 1912-13 and lobbied for the county seat to relocate to his new settlement. In 1919, the county seat moved and Mr. West immediately deeded an entire block for construction of a courthouse. 
 The 1920 Live Oak County Courthouse was designed by well-known San Antonio architect Alfred Giles (1853-1920), a friend of Mr. West and the architect of his 1880s ranch house. Giles designed more than a dozen county courthouses and numerous homes, schools and commercial buildings around Texas and Mexico. Sadly, he died before the Live Oak County Courthouse was complete. The classical revival courthouse is a symmetrical three-story dark brick and cast stone building. Porticos are supported by large unfluted Corinthian columns with detailed capitals and are accentuated in white along with the architrave and cornice. The structure was advertised as fireproof with reinforced concrete. 
 In addition to governmental and legal proceedings, the Live Oak County Courthouse and grounds have been the location of community events ranging from political rallies and weddings to Christmas events and county celebrations. For more than a century, the courthouse has served the people of Live Oak County while embodying historical and architectural distinction. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2020

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Live Oak County Jail

1887

Oakville, seat of Live Oak County from 1856-1919, first called “on the sulphur,” was near a Nueces River crossing called Puente de la Piedra (Rock Crossing). Joseph Bartlett built a stone courthouse and attached log jail in 1857 as a center of authority. The county became part of the growing cattle industry following the Civil War. Oakville served as a commerce hub for freight wagons and a place for ranchers to buy supplies. The jail, with sheriff headquarters, made the town seem safer. J.S. Campbell oversaw the rebuilding of the courthouse with the jail placed inside during the 1870s. By 1887, Oakville constructed a free-standing two-story stone Italianate-style jail. The jail held frontier criminals ranging from bar fighters to horse thieves. In 1919, after losing a railway bid, a county election selected the town of George West as the new County Seat. The old jail became one of the few standing structures in Oakville. The Oakville Jail is made of sandstone from a nearby quarry. It is corniced with heavy sandstone as well. The stone facades and corners are covered in white stucco. Windowsills remain, showing period ventilation. The first floor had a reception room, office and living quarters. The second floor housed jail cells, three for general holding and a fourth for women and juveniles. There are two corbelled chimneys, and a metal cistern at the rear of the building. The design is from the Diebold Lock and Safe Company of Canton, Ohio. The Oakville Jail and its twin in Mills County with their unique Diebold architecture are both listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

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Dinero, TX

1846

Dinero is on Farm Road 534 some ten miles southeast of George West in southeastern Live Oak County. The town was first named Barlow's Ferry, after E. Barlow, who in 1846 ran ferries across the Nueces River for local ranchers. In 1872 the name was changed to Dinero ("money" in Spanish); there were rumors of a nearby silver mine hidden by Indians, and Mexican treasure-seekers favored the area. The community's name was probably changed, however, to reflect the area's profitable resources, which over the years have included cotton, dairy farms, and oil and gas wells. The community's first school opened in 1858 and closed in 1894. In 1885 Dinero was granted a post office, and George Wright's general store served a population of twenty. The community's population rose to seventy by 1892, and by 1906 Dinero had two schools with two teachers and a total enrollment of twenty-four. The population was thirty when the town moved a mile west in 1914 to be on the San Antonio, Uvalde and Gulf Railroad. Oil and gas discoveries in the 1920s failed to make Dinero a boomtown, and only a church, a school, several businesses, and scattered dwellings marked the community on the 1936 county highway map. The community's population reached fifty in 1943, and Dinero's separate schools for White and Mexican-American students were annexed to the George West Independent School District in 1949. From 1964 to 1990 Dinero reported thirty-five residents and three businesses. In 2000 the population was 344 with three businesses.

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Everything Near George West

74 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

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