Benavides, TX

Benavides is a Duval County city of 1,183 residents in the 2020 census, set in South Texas brush country at the meeting of State Highways 339 and 359, Farm Road 2295, Las Animas Creek, and the Texas-Mexican Railway. The community took its name from Plácido Benavides, a rancher who donated 80 acres when the railroad station was established in 1881. A post office followed that year, and the town grew around the rail stop with stores, a church, school, cotton activity, and ranching.

Today State Highway 359 leads northeast to San Diego and southwest toward Hebbronville, placing Benavides in a long South Texas corridor. Benavides Independent School District serves the community and describes the area as part of the historic Wild Horse Desert, between Corpus Christi and Laredo. City Hall, the school campus, and the creek valley form the local civic map, while the old railroad alignment shows why a town grew here in the first place. The result is a small city with deep ranch, railroad, and Mexican-American roots.