Stockdale

Stockdale is at the junction of U.S. Highway 87 and State highways 97 and 123, thirteen miles northeast of Floresville in eastern Wilson County. The town was named for Fletcher S. Stockdale, lieutenant governor when the town was established in 1863. A post office was established in 1871. German and Polish immigration brought the population to 300 by 1885, when the town had four churches, a school, two mills, two blacksmith shops, two general stores, a grocery, and a drugstore. In 1898 the San Antonio and Gulf Railroad reached Stockdale, and by 1914 the population had grown to 900. By 1925 industries included a planing mill that manufactured furniture and cabinets. In 1929 the estimated population was 1,000. The population declined during the 1930s; in 1939 the town reported 696 residents and thirty-five businesses. Since that time Stockdale has grown steadily, reaching 1,100 in 1965 and 1,264 in 1990. The number of businesses, however, had fallen to twenty-nine by 1990. In 2000 the population was 1,398.