Aguilares

AGUILARES, TEXAS . Aguilares is on State Highway 359 and the Texas-Mexican Railway twenty-four miles east of Laredo in southeastern Webb County. It is named for Locario, José, Francisco, Próspero, and Librado Aguilar, who settled in the area in the 1870s. The town started as a ranching community. In 1881 it became a water and wood stop on the railroad. It received a post office in 1890. Some oil has been produced in the area. In 1907 the town had two schools with eighty-nine pupils and two teachers, and in 1910 it reportedly had a population of 1,500. By 1914 the population had decreased to 300; two businesses, the larger being the Aguilares Mercantile Company, served the community. The post office was closed after 1930, and in 1939 the population was ten. In 1945 the population was twenty-five, and one of the two stores had closed. In 1990 only ten people were reported, and most of the houses were in disuse. By 2000 the population grew to thirty-seven.