Photograph of the Mercantile Store in Mineral, Texas. The first Anglo settlers to the Mineral area date back to 1845 when President Anson Jones granted a large track of land to the heirs of Henry Coley. After the Civil War, Refugio resident Thomas Howard and son-in-law, Lyman Blackman, begin a freight route from Saint Marys hauling lumbar and other supplies into the Mineral area. They then returned with hides and other products for export. While digging water wells a vein of hot mineral water with 16 different minerals was struck by William and Susan Sanford. Overnight Mineral became a tent city in 1877 as people came because of the healing powers they thought the mineral water contained. The Sanford Hotel, several stores, churches, a grist mill, a school in the drug store, and a post office sprang up at Mineral City. As the medicinal power of the water withered, along with the by-passing by the railroad, floods, and fires, Mineral also withered. In 1952 the South Texas Children’s Home was established near the old “city”. By 1958 one store, two Baptist churches, and less than 100 residents were all that remained.

Photograph of a man and a woman embracing in front of the Mineral Mercantile Store. Mineral The first Anglo settlers to the Mineral area date back to 1845 when President Anson Jones granted a large track of land to the heirs of Henry Coley. After the Civil War, Refugio resident Thomas Howard and son-in-law, Lyman Blackman, begin a freight route from Saint Marys hauling lumbar and other supplies into the Mineral area. They then returned with hides and other products for export. While digging water wells a vein of hot mineral water with 16 different minerals was struck by William and Susan Sanford. Overnight Mineral became a tent city in 1877 as people came because of the healing powers they thought the mineral water contained. The Sanford Hotel, several stores, churches, a grist mill, a school in the drug store, and a post office sprang up at Mineral City. As the medicinal power of the water withered, along with the by-passing by the railroad, floods, and fires, Mineral also withered. In 1952 the South Texas Children’s Home was established near the old “city”, one store, two Baptist churches, and less than 100 residents were all that remained.