San Diego

San Diego, Texas
San Diego, the county seat of Duval County, is on San Diego Creek and the Texas-Mexican Railway at the intersection of State highways 44 and 359 and Farm Road 1329, sixteen miles northeast of Benavides, twenty-four miles southeast of Freer, and fifty-two miles west of Corpus Christi on the county line between eastern Duval and western Jim Wells counties. The San Diego Cemetery lies northeast of town. Long before the town itself existed, its site was known to transients. In the eighteenth century travelers between Goliad and Mier used the springs that help feed San Diego Creek and now lie within the city limits as a watering hole. Around 1800 San Diego de Arriba and San Diego de Abajo, two grants totaling eight leagues of land, were granted by the Spanish government to Julián Flores and his son Ventura. The grants were surveyed in 1806 by José Faustino Contreras, the surveyor general of San Luis Potosí. Julián and Ventura Flores arrived in 1809 and received their deed in 1812. The first settlers may have been Julián Flores's herdsmen, who had settled on his ranch there by 1815; four years later the Flores family authorized an agent to found a town "at the place called San Diego." In 1828 Luis Muñiz became the first recorded birth in Duval County; he lived until the mid-1840s. By 1844 a visiting surveyor placed "some twenty-five families" there, and in 1846 Gen. Zachary Taylor and his troops reportedly camped there on their way to occupy Port Isabel, but not until 1848, when Henry L. Kinney and William L. Cazneau cut a road from Corpus Christi to Laredo that passed through the area, was the settlement named. In that year Ventura Flores sold some land along the north bank of San Diego Creek to Pablo Pérez, who built some stone houses and brought some families to live there. The resulting community was known as Perezville.
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.
Martin Donell Kohout | © Texas State Historical Association
San Diego at a Glance
Belongs to
San Diego is part of or belongs to the following places.
Adopt a Town
The Texas Almanac's Land Rush program lets you adopt the town or county of your choice and share your message with the world. 100% of the proceeds benefit education in Texas.

- Adoption Status: ✅
- This place is available for adoption!
- Adopted by:
- Your name goes here
- Dedication Message:
- Your message goes here
Currently Exists
Yes
Place type
San Diego is classified as a Town
Associated Names
- (Perezville)
Locations
-
- Latitude
- 27.76009920
- Longitude
- -98.23926600
Has Post Office
Yes
Is Incorporated
Yes
Photos of San Diego and surrounding areas

San Diego, Texas
Train at San Diego, Texas, Historical photograph, 1914. Photograph is a primary source, located at UNT's The Portal of Texas History: https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth703980/

San Diego by the Numbers
Population Counts
This is some placeholder text that we should either remove or replace with a brief summary about this particular metric. For example, "We update population counts once per year..."
Population Counts
San Diego
Pop. | Year | Source |
---|---|---|
4,279 | 2019 | Texas Demographic Center |
4,488 | 2010 | Texas Demographic Center |
4,753 | 2000 | Texas Demographic Center |
4,983 | 1990 | Texas Demographic Center |
5,225 | 1980 | Texas Demographic Center |
4,490 | 1970 | Texas Demographic Center |
4,351 | 1960 | Texas Demographic Center |
4,397 | 1950 | Texas Demographic Center |
2,674 | 1940 | Texas Demographic Center |