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Count on our team of specialists at Heard & Smith, LLP to assist the elderly and disabled residents of Guadalupe County, Texas, with all of you inheritance, probate and Social Security needs.
Guadalupe County, Texas, is
a 713 square mile inland
county in south central TX. Although bounded by Comal, Hays,
Caldwell, Gonzales, Wilson, and Bexar counties, it is only 90 miles
from the Gulf of Mexico. Cibolo Creek runs between Guadalupe and
Bexar counties, as does the San Marcos River between Guadalupe and
Caldwell counties. From the
Blackland Prairies to the
Upper Coastal Plain, the rolling terrain has a mild subtropical
climate and an average growing season of 275 days.
Guadalupe County (pop. 2000: 4,680)
is named for the Guadalupe River, which was named in honor of
Our Lady of Guadalupe in 1689. Commanche raids kept this area
fairly unsettled until the 18th century. Veterans of the Texas
Revolution were given land in the area, and 1838 saw a group of former
Texas Rangers (and others) settle on the northeast bank of the
Guadalupe. Originally named Walnut Springs, the community changed the
name to
Seguin (1839) in honor of
Juan N. Seguin. As the presence of troops increased the security
in the area around Seguin, many families elected to settle there.
Seguin, now the county seat and largest town, is fairly centered in
the county.
Good harvests, healthy livestock, and
a major market place with the Guadalupe River and a new stage line
(est. 1847)for shipping to the rest of the county increased the value
of area farms and livestock almost 600% by 1860.
Following the Civil War and through
the Reconstruction period, Guadalupe County a severe economic
depression, but none of the civil unrest that characterized its
neighboring counties..
Capote and Sweet Home were settled by
freed Blacks in the late 1860's, and other settlements, Kingsbury,
Marion, McQueeney, Cibolo, and Schertz grew around the Galveston,
Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway, which reached Seguin in 1876.
The Guadalupe River began to be
developed in the late 1920s for a source of hydroelectric power.
Lake Dunlap
and
Lake McQueeney, among others, were formed by the dams and designed
for resort and recreation areas. Today, Lake McQueeney is known as
the "water ski capitol of Texas". Between them, Guadalupe County has
developed major recreational sites featuring marina, and water sports
as well as world renowned fishing and angling along the
Guadalupe River watershed for largemouth bass, spotted bass, white
crappie, blue catfish, channel catfish, and sunfish.
The agricultural economy was
diversified when oil was discovered in the Darst Creek oilfield
(eastern Guadalupe County - 1922), and more so with the new service
and resort industries. With the growth of nearby San Antonio ( just
18 miles southwest of Seguin), a sizeable portion of the county's
population also began to commute. |
