Olmos

OLMOS, TEXAS (Bee County). Olmos is a small, predominantly Czech farming community located in southwestern Bee County at the intersection of Farm roads 796 and 797. The original name was Los Olmos, which is Spanish for "the elm trees;" the name was shortened to Olmos in 1917. Prior to 1860 the area had been settled by H. D. (Hank) Sullivan, who began ranching with Joe Sullivan shortly after the Civil War . Two Englishwomen, Charlotte and Eliza Cobb, settled there in 1866 and brought 1,000 sheep with them. In 1888 the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway was constructed eight miles east of Olmos. That year the residents built a Catholic church and in 1893 a schoolhouse. In 1905 Olmos had one white school with twenty-four pupils and one teacher. In 1940 the town had a population of seventy, a cotton gin, a school, and one store. After the school was consolidated with the Skidmore-Tynan School District, the schoolhouse was turned over to the Olmos Community Club. The general store, which was first operated by Frank Russek, was abandoned around 1975. In 1990 only the Olmos Community Club remained in operation. No population estimates were available in 2000.