NUECESTOWN, TEXAS. Nuecestown was originally about thirteen miles northwest of Corpus Christi in Nueces County. In 1989 what remained was located in the 11400 block of Leopard St. in Corpus Christi. The town was established in 1852 and called the Motts by English and German settlers, in reference to clusters of trees in the area. Later the community was renamed after the Nueces River. Henry Kinney,^qv the founder, required that each settler purchase 100 acres at a dollar an acre and a minimum of ten cows at ten dollars a head. By 1859 a post office had been established in the community; a temporary post office had existed in 1854-55. The town was raided in the Nuecestown Raid by Mexican bandits on March 26, 1875.

By 1885 Nuecestown had one of the largest schools in the county, with thirty-two students enrolled. The schoolhouse of 1892, constructed after the first two burned, is one of the few surviving structures of Nuecestown. In its prime the town had a stagecoach inn, a public ferry, a meat-packing plant, a cotton gin, a general store, and a blacksmith shop. The community declined after being bypassed by the St. Louis, Brownsville, and Mexico Railway in 1905. In 1896 the population was about 200, and Nuecestown had daily mail service. By 1927 the post office had closed, and the townsite was the at center of the Turkey Creek oilfield and had a population of fifty. In the 1960s all that was left of Nuecestown was a Motts Restaurant and curio shop run by Jim Wright. In 1980 all that remained was the preserved schoolhouse of 1892 and the Nuecestown Cemetery, both located within the Corpus Christi city limit.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Nueces County Historical Society, History of Nueces County (Austin: Jenkins, 1972). Marker Files, Texas Historical Commission, Austin.

James N. Campbell