Loma Vista

Loma (Luma) Vista is on Farm Road 1867 twelve miles south of Batesville in southeastern Zavala County. The community is named for a hill called Loma Vista two miles north of the community; the hill was on the Upper Presidio Road and was used by Spanish explorers and later by United States surveyors as a geographic reference point. The words loma vista are Spanish for "hill view." The Loma Vista area has been primarily cattle ranching country, though some individuals have attempted dryland farming of watermelons, peanuts, and feedstuffs. The area was first settled around 1874 by A. D. Everett, his three sons, and three sons-in-law. Everett, already a successful cattleman in the western part of Zavala County, established a cattle pen on several sections of land on Arroyo Negro and reconditioned a road, called Manchaca, connecting this new operation with his western holdings. The extended Everett family and the family of Jesse Adams built houses, dug wells, tended small fields, cultivated cattle, and became the early nucleus of the community. A post office called Luma Vista was established in the community in 1879. The Loma Vista cemetery was established on land owned by Everett in 1883. By 1884 Loma Vista had several households, two stores, two beer saloons, and a schoolhouse. P. J. Samsom was postmaster and managed the local general store in 1892. In 1897 the community's two schools had one teacher and an enrollment of fifty-one; by 1908 only one school remained, and enrollment had decreased to thirty-two. Loma Vista was a trading center for the southeastern part of the county during the early 1900s. In 1912 several houses and a saloon existed near the schoolhouse, which at that time was also used for religious services by Baptists and the local Church of Christ. By 1914 the community had telephone service; W. L. Gates and his sons were local professional cattle breeders. The Loma Vista post office was discontinued in 1926. In 1936 the community had a school and a scattering of dwellings. In 1939 the Loma Vista school system was consolidated into the Crystal City Independent School District. By 1945 Loma Vista was a rambling settlement of small ranches and farms with an estimated population of 125. By 1972 only two dwellings and the Loma Vista Cemetery remained there, and by 1989 the cemetery was essentially all that remained at the townsite.