Fant City

Sunniland (Suniland) is on the Missouri Pacific Railroad near the Atascosa River and just west of U.S. Highway 281, eleven miles north of Three Rivers and twenty miles north of George West in north central Live Oak County. It was originally called Fant City, after Dillard R. Fant. In 1914 land that had been the Fant Ranch was sold at such outrageous prices that many lawsuits resulted. The name Sunniland came from the railroad depot. Sunniland had a post office from 1926 until 1945. In 1928 it had a school, a post office, a hotel, and railroad camphouses. Throughout the late 1920s and the 1930s it had twenty-five residents and two businesses. In 1940 Sunniland had three businesses and a population of sixty. The Fant City school was incorporated into the Three Rivers school district in 1949. In 1947 the town had a population of 100 and two businesses. By 1952 no businesses remained, but there were still 100 residents. By 1974 the population had decreased to seventy-five. In 1990 Sunniland still had seventy-five residents and a gravel pit.