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A Brief History of Los Fresnos
- Updated: January 13, 2015
Retired Los Fresnos High School teacher, former mayor, owner of Keillor Construction & Lumber Inc and local historian James A. Keillor drafted his A Brief History of Los Fresnos while attending UT-Brownsville while a student in Dr. William L. Adams’ class. The full document can be found at the LFCISD website in the 100th Anniversary section. We present this excerpt as part of our coverage of the Los Fresnos Independent School District’s 100th year anniversary celebration.
A photo from 1948 of the Los Frenos train station. The station linked Los Fresnos to the rest of the developing Valley in those days. Photo: For We Love Our Valley Home by Miriam Chatelle, 1948.
by James A. Keillor
Los Fresnos, a small community located in Cameron County approximately twelve miles north of Brownsville, was one of the last unsettled frontiers of the Rio Grande Valley. It was almost the last tract of land to be opened under the land company” system. The upper Valley had been quite well cleared by northern farmers by 1915 when the first settlers came to Los Fresnos.”The town grew rapidly from its beginning until the Great Depression and again during the decade of the 1940s, but has always maintained a Small town atmosphere.
It is not clear how Los Fresnos received its name as several versions may be found. According to one account, it was named after the Rancho Los Fresnos established by Mexican ranchers as early as 1771.
Another account tells us the proposed town was initially named Moseville by Lon C. Hill, Sr., naming it after his son, Lon C. (Mose) Hill, Jr. , but the name was subsequently changed to Los Fresnos.” However, Harry H. Whipple, an early settler who moved to Los Fresnos in the summer of 1915, states that it was already called Los Fresnos when he arrived.
A third account gives the credit directly to Hill, Sr. for the eventual name. “As he rode through the senderos” (winding lanes) viewing, and planning for the future development of, this beautiful country, he saw many ash trees scattered in the woods and on the banks of the resacas”.
Because of this he began calling the locality Los Fresnos – Spanish for “The Ash”. To help settle the issue one might have to look to the account offered by Juanita Zumwalt Steer, a member of the first family to settle in the new town, having arrived in April of 1915.
She states, One afternoon I remember my mother and Mose Hill talking about giving our place a name. They decided on the name of Los Fresnos. . . .”
Many individuals were responsible for the development of the town site. In 1909, Hill, Sr. purchased several thousand acres within the Espiritu Santo Grant including shares or portions of shares 12, 20, and 22. He subsequently organized the Rio Grande Canal Company” in 1912. This company then sold 9778.94 acres to the Los Fresnos Land and Irrigation Company for development. The principal parties of the Los Fresnos Land and Irrigation Company were J. B. Scott, Juan Fernandez, and S.C. Morton.”
Whipple remembers “the Scott Fernandez land company owned the land where the original town site of twenty acres was created; however, they were only the owners of the land” and another company was responsible for the promotion of the town, building the school house, and arranging the train excursions.”
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