Zapata County is named for local rancher Antonio Zapata, a military leader born around 1800. The county seat and largest town is Zapata, which is on the Rio Grande at the junction of U.S. Highway 83 and State Highway 16. Zapata County covers 999 square miles.

The first European exploration of the region was probably made by Capt. Miguel de la Garza Falcón, who in 1747 led a group down the northern bank of the Rio Grande from the site of present day Eagle Pass to the mouth of the river following a route that later became known as the O ld Military Highway. The first settlement in the future county was founded three years later by José Vázquez Borrego, a rancher from Coahuila. On August 22, 1750, he founded Nuestra Señora de los Dolores Hacienda a few miles from the site of present San Ygnacio. In 1818, after a series of Indian attacks, Hacienda Dolores was abandoned, though by 1830 it was once again occupied. In 1821 the future Zapata County, along with other settlements between the Nueces and the Rio Grande, became part of the Mexican state of Tamaulipas.

From the Texas Revolution until the Mexican War the region was disputed territory, claimed by both Texas and Mexico. In 1839-40 Antonio Zapata and other residents joined Antonio Canales Rosillo and Jesús Cárdenas to fight for the Republic of the Rio Grande. During the 1850s Dolores Hacienda was destroyed by Indians, and sporadic attacks on isolated haciendas continued until well after the Civil War.

In 1848 the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo established the Texas claim to the region, and the area of future Zapata County was included in Starr and Webb counties. On January 22, 1858, the Legislature passed a measure establishing Zapata County, which was organized on April 26, 1858, with Bellville (later known as Carrizo and subsequently as Zapata) as the county seat.

Because of its isolation and the fact that there were few white residents and no slaves, the county remained largely unaffected by the Civil War and its aftermath, except that during the war, crossborder raids, carried out by bands living on both sides of the border, became increasingly common. In December 1862, the county’s chief justice was murdered, and the assailants fled into Mexico. In retaliation Capt. Refugio Benavides and 25 Confederate soldiers pursued the men into Mexico, where they killed three of the raiders and dispersed the others. After the war, both Mexican and American outlaws made frequent raids on Zapata County ranches, stealing cattle and horses and sometimes killing the occupants. After a district judge, a clerk, and various other county officials were killed in a raid in 1875, Governor Richard Coke declared that until order was restored all county judicial proceedings should take place in neighboring Webb County.

Unlike the situation in much of South Texas, relations between Anglos and Hispanics remained generally harmonious, partly due to considerable intermarriage. More importantly, large-scale farming was never introduced into the area. Many Hispanic landowners were unwilling to sell their land to Anglo newcomers, and Zapata County residents rejected irrigation development and were thus spared an influx of northern farmers. Highway 83 was completed from Brownsville to Laredo in 1935, for the first time allowing Zapata County access to outside markets.

The construction of the massive International Falcon Reservoir, designed to protect the lower Rio Grande valley from flooding, first entered the planning stages in the late 1940s. To oversee the project, a governmental commission known as the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) formed. After lengthy deliberations, the board selected the line between Zapata and Starr counties as the site for the new dam. The choice of that location, however, meant that more than 115,000 acres of land in Zapata County would be inundated and would force the evacuation of 3,000 people.

Problems arose when the United States government proposed to relocate all of the individuals to a single site. Some residents chose to stay on their land. But when the Rio Grande flooded in August 1954, it filled the reservoir three years before the projected date and forced immediate evacuation.

There were also numerous problems with the compensation the government offered to those who were forced to move. Before the inundation, the “I Bully Widows and Children Commission,” as the IBWC came to be called locally, had gone about assessing the value of land and homes that were to be lost to the reservoir. But residents were paid the supposed “fair-market” value rather than “replacement value” for their property, and many lost land that had been in their families for generations. Although residents were allowed to retain mineral rights for their original property, no mineral rights were granted on their new land. Consequently, residents filed a lawsuit against the United States government for just compensation.

Hearings lasted from 1954 until 1962, when the court ruled that the plaintiffs should be paid additional money for lost homes, land, and accrued interest. The reservoir nevertheless was a boon to the county, for it fostered tourism, which by the early 1960s was one of the county’s largest sources of income.

Recreation facilities in the county include the Falcon State Park, the San Ygnacio Historic District, Corralitos Ranch, and San Francisco Ranch. Special events include the county fair, parade, and horse races.

The information above is excerpted from the Handbook of Texas, an encyclopedia published by the Texas State Historical Association. The Handbook can be accessed online at www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online. Copies of the two-volume set may be obtained by contacting the TSHA at 512-232-1513.