Sarita

Sarita, the county seat of Kenedy County, is an incorporated town off U.S. Highway 77 twenty miles south of Kingsville in extreme northwestern Kenedy County. The land for the townsite was part of the Kenedy Ranch owned by John G. Kenedy, who named the new community after his daughter Sarita. The town was established in 1904 and served as a ranching center for the Kenedy Ranch and Kenedy Pasture Company. Sarita was a stop on the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway that was chartered in 1903. The townsite was moved a mile east in February 1905, when a stretch of the railroad was relaid, but Sarita was not actually surveyed and platted until 1907. Land companies out of St. Louis, Kansas City, and Chicago promoted Sarita to northerners and ran homeseeker trains taking prospective buyers to South Texas. Upon arrival, visitors toured the area in jolt wagons while a seller made his sales pitch; buyers purchased lots from the Kenedy Town and Improvement Company. Early settlers included the Turcottes, Braunes, Pfaus, Johnsons, and McLeroys. There has been a post office in Sarita since 1904. By 1907 there was a lumberyard, a cotton gin, a one-room school, a nursery, and a railroad depot. Since Sarita was a section point for the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway, there was a section house and water tank for the trains. Two artesian wells provided water to Sarita before another water tank was built, and the town had two stores: the Pfau store and the company store (and post office