The History of Palacios

The town of Palacios is located along the Tres Palacios Bay, an inland bay of Matagorda Bay, on the central coast of Texas. Houston is approximately 110 miles to the northeast and Corpus Christi is approximately 110 miles to the southwest.

According to legend, a Spanish shipwrecked near Palacios. The sailors saw a mirage of three palaces, and swam toward the shore where the palaces seemed to be. The palaces disappeared, but the name, Tres Palacios ("Three Palaces"), did not. Currently, the name is pronounced puh-LASH-us, and historians believe it was named after José Félix Trespalacios, the Mexican governor of Coahuila y Texas.

When Texas became a republic in 1836, Matagorda County was organized. The area was ranch land and continued as such until cotton began to be farmed. The climate, the Gulf of Mexico, navigable streams, the railroad, and land all attracted land developers to South Texas around the turn of the century.

A real estate agent named W. C. Moore and others formed a corporation called The Texas Rice Development Company and developed an area in West Matagorda County, 19,400 acres, on Tres Palacios Bay. The area, called Bull Pasture, had been part of the famous Abel H. 'Shanghai' Pierce Ranch. A town was laid out at Hamilton Point in 1902 and named Tres Palacios (the Tres was later dropped).

The population grew quickly. In 1904 construction of the "Pleasure Pavilion" started on the central waterfront. It featured a two story open-air central structure with two large wings on either side, and offered entertainment ranging from dancing and skating to basketball games. Numerous buildings went up around this time. The City of Palacios was incorporated in 1909 with Duncan Ruthven being elected the first mayor. Palacios continued to grow throughout the 1910s and 1920s.

Camp Hulen (originally Camp Palacios) was founded in 1925-26 as a summer training camp for the 36th Infantry of the Texas National Guard. It was leased to the U.S. War Department in 1940 and became a training facility for anti-aircraft artillery, housing nearly 15,000 personnel at its peak, as well as a number of German war prisoners. With its large military population, Palacios played host to visiting stars such as Rita Hayworth and Carole Landis.

After World War II, Camp Hulen closed, and the population of Palacios declined. Hurricane Carla hit in 1961, causing severe damage to the town and destroying many historic structures. Since that time, Palacios has begun to grow again, with the formation of a vibrant Vietnamese immigrant community in the 1970s and 80s, as well as people from all over America discovering the beauty and tranquility of this special place.