Cabeza

Cabeza, 5½ miles northwest of Nordheim in western DeWitt County, was named for its location on the headwaters of Cabeza Creek, which in turn was named by the Spaniards. The settlement was founded about 1876 by three sheepmen, P. P. Short, John Riley, and Joshua Butler, at an elevated site. In 1888 Robert E. Magee taught the first session at the new school named for Short, who had donated land for the site. Baptist and Methodist services were held in the school building beginning about 1890. The community had a post office from 1899 to 1907. It also had three stores and a blacksmith. Cabeza was first a sheep-raising center; later, cattle and cotton dominated its economy. A local cotton gin processed about 1,000 bales of cotton annually until boll weevil devastation ruined the business. In 1948 the community had about 150 pupils in two schools, one for White children, the other for Hispanic. Both schools were discontinued in the 1950s. Cabeza was not shown on the 1965 county highway map.