St. Paul, San Patricio County
The town of St. Paul began in 1910, the result of a land promotion operation by developer George H. Paul and the Shary Land Company. George Paul purchased 70,000 acres of land from local rancher J.J. Welder and divided the acreage into farm lots. The townsite of St. Paul was platted in December 1910, and Adolph, Robert, and John Shary formed the Shary Land Company to promote the new town. Agents representing the development team worked throughout the midwest to publicize the new community and excursion trains departed Kansas City twice a month bringing prospective settlers to Texas. The town grew quickly, with the construction of homes, the three story shary hotel, retail stores, schools, and churches. The George H. Paul company operated a huge company farm that employed as many as 300 workers, as well as the largest store in town, the George H. Paul farm store, which also housed a post office (established in 1910), telephone exchange, and a bank. By the 1920's prosperous cotton gins were in operation to process farmers crops, and eight trains a day came through the busy St. Paul Depot. The town declined after World War II as many people moved to larger cities. 1994