Calaveras

Calaveras (Spanish for "skulls") is at the junction of U.S. Highway 181 and Farm Road 3444, eight miles northwest of Floresville in northwestern Wilson County. It was originally in Bexar County and was called Wright when it was established in the early 1860s. A boundary change put the site in Wilson County in 1869, and the name was changed when a post office was granted in 1882. The population was twenty in 1885, when B. Johnson was postmaster and mail was brought by horse from San Antonio. The San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway reached the area in 1886. By 1892 the town had a hotel, three brickyards, a saloon, a barber shop, a bakery, two general stores, a meat market, and a reported 250 residents. A Calaveras school was in operation by 1896, when it had an enrollment of sixty-three. The town reached a peak population of 369 in 1900. In 1925 the post office was closed, and the station was reduced to a flag stop. In 1947 Calaveras had one business and a population of 100. Since that time the population has remained steady, and in 2000 Calaveras still had 100 residents.

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.