History

Lon C. Hill

Founder of Los Fresnos

The area which is now home to present day Los Fresnos is not unknown to history. In fact, this area along the Rio Grande River and the Gulf of Mexico played a significant role in both the US-Mexican War and the American Civil War. The plain of Palo Alto (tall timber) just five miles south of town was the site of the opening battle of the war between the U.S. and Mexico in 1846. Years later, Palmito Ranch located just South East of the town was the site of the last battle of the Civil War, after most Confederate armies had already surrendered in 1865. The Palo Alto Battlefield National Historic Site operated by the National Park Service and several states and national historical markers commemorate the locations of these historic sites today. With this area having served primarily as ranch land for centuries, a small ranch called Los Fresnos (ash tree) is said to have occupied a site near where Los Fresnos exists today as early as 1770. After the U.S.-Mexican War, the four tiny communities of Los Cuates, Charco Hondo, Tres Norias, and Agua Negra were merged to form much of the town of Los Fresnos as it stands today. The promise of railroad development in the early 1900s brought trainloads of land speculators into South Texas. In 1907 Lon C. Hill, Jr. bought 14,232 acres and parceled them into lots. This eventually evolved into the layout of the original townsite of “modern” Los Fresnos which was finally developed in 1915.