Bexar

Bexar, also known as La Colorada, is two miles west of Somerset on Farm Road 2790 and Kinney Road, eighteen miles southwest of downtown San Antonio in southwestern Bexar County. Bexar was first settled by John Kinney (also spelled Kenney), an Irish farmer and rancher, in 1854. In 1868 Kinney and other area residents founded San Patricio de Bexar Catholic Church. By the mid-1880s the Kinney family was operating an open pit coal mine in Bexar. Coal was originally transported to San Antonio by ox-cart. The Bexar post office opened in 1883 in the general store, which was painted bright red. For this reason, the town was known by the Hispanic workers as “La Colorada” or “La Mina de la Colorada.” In 1894 there were thirty to forty-five small houses, a general store owned by John Conoly and Dr. James A Matthews, a doctor’s office, a theater, a post office, a cotton gin, a dance hall, a cantina, and three churches.

Adapted from the official Handbook of Texas, a state encyclopedia developed by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). It is an authoritative source of trusted historical records.