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Kingsville: Paving the Town By Pat Allison Perhaps you have noticed the beautiful repaving of King Avenue a few weeks back. Work crews were out for a couple weeks blocking off lanes and putting down new pavement. Sure is smooth driving now. Back in the early days of Kingsville our roads were unpaved, graded dirt, or gravel. For starters there was no city organization. Streets and roads were grubbed and graded out of the brush and pasture by the Kleberg Town & Improvement Co. The town at that time was a mile square area fenced off from the King Ranch with smooth wire running through cedar fence posts and a few strategically placed gates. These dirt streets were a bit messy. When it rained they turned to mud. When it was dry they created a lot of dust. In the July 17, 1912, minutes of the early City of Kingsville, the city fathers contracted with the Kleberg Water Works for water to be sprinkled on the dusty streets and avenues. This cost ten cents per 1,000 gallons of water. Kleberg County was carved out of Nueces County February 17, 1913. The very first bond issue was $150,000 for road paving and Robert J. Kleberg and Company bought the entire bond issue. In July of 1915, the Kingsville Record reported on the test paving of a single block of 6th Street between Kleberg and Yoakum Avenues. The community was anxious to decide what kind of pavement to put down that would serve the citizens for many years and be suitably economical. The newspaper reported that “without notice” a 5 inch layer of gravel was put down on that block and then paved with 5/8 inch of “Tarvia”. The “Tarvia” would be treated three times and the result was expected to last five to ten years. By 1924, paving of town streets and avenues became a primary issue because of the arrival of the Normal School. The town wanted to put the best foot forward for what would eventually become Texas A&M University at Kingsville. Roads, both town and country, were becoming important. A college scholarship was offered to the student presenting the best essay on roads. By May of 1925, the citizens were demanding that the roads in Kingsville be paved as quickly as possible. The problem with dust had become unbearable. There was more than just the road paving that was under discussion. The installation of storm sewers had to be addressed, too. In January of 1926, the newspaper had an article urging citizens to “Lift Kingsville out of the mud at the polls next Tuesday”. Kingsville’s citizens voted by an overwhelming majority for $125,000 in paving bonds. The business district would be paved first and part of the residential area. The streets were to be paved with concrete. Eventually all of the community would be lifted out of the mud and ready for the future. Next time you are on a dust free Kingsville street, take the turn to visit the 1904 Kingsville Train Depot Museum.
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Photo courtesy of Judy Muzyczyn of |
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