Cuevitas

Cuevitas is on Farm Road 649 eight miles south of Guerra in Jim Hogg County. The site was a part of José de Escandón's land grant. Indian hostility and revolutions in Mexico prevented settlement in the area until the late 1800s. Brothers J. and F. Guerra founded the town when they established a ranch and general store. A post office was established there in 1894, and the town had a church, a cemetery, and a school. Most of the community's residents have been in some way related to one another. Cuevitas achieved brief stardom when in an episode of "Gunsmoke," Matt Dillon and Chester referred to the town as the worst place to live. The town at one time served as a retail point for cattle ranching in southern Jim Hogg County. The population of Cuevitas was reported as eighty in 1915, twenty-five from 1939 until the 1960s, and twelve in 1990 and 2000.