Bonton

Welfare is four miles southeast of Waring in west central Kendall County. It was once known as Bon Ton or Boyton, but when the post office was established in 1880, the name was changed to Welfare, possibly for the German word "Wohlfarht," meaning pleasant trip. In 1887 the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway Company completed the section of track between San Antonio and Kerrville, giving Welfare easy access to markets. The community had 275 residents by 1892 and continued to prosper until the early twentieth century. The Welfare school had twenty students in 1905 and served as the focus of a common school district until 1952, when it was consolidated with the Comfort Independent School District. Several years of drought, a fire, and the appearance of the boll weevil made life difficult for area residents. By the mid-1920s the population had fallen to twenty-five. State Highway 87 bypassed the community in 1930, and when the railroad was abandoned in 1970, Welfare was accessible only by a county road. The post office was discontinued in 1976. The population was reported at forty from the late 1940s through the 1960s, and at thirty-six from 1970 through 2000.