Deweesville

Deweesville, on Farm Road 1344 ten miles southwest of Falls City in Karnes County, was named after John O. Dewees, a prominent rancher in the vicinity during traildriving days. In 1936 Deweesville had a school, cotton gin, and store. By 1948 maps show only scattered residences and a business at the site. The population at that time was thirty-six. After the discovery of uranium in Karnes County in 1954, the first uranium ore processing mill in Texas was built by the Susquehanna-Western Corporation in Deweesville in 1961. By 1958–59 the community had three businesses and ninety residents. Uranium mining and milling operations in the area lasted only a few years, and eventually the mill was dismantled. In 1990 extensive reclamation work was being done in the Deweesville area by the United States Department of Energy. In 2000 the population was twelve.