What is the origin of the name Palacios?

the history of it and origin

What is the origin of the name Palacios?
Palacios is located in Matagorda County, nestled along the Tres Palacios Bay, an inland bay of Matagorda Bay, on the southern coast of Texas. Houston is approximately 110 miles to the northeast and Corpus Christi is approximately 110 miles to the southwest.





There is a legend that a Spanish ship was wrecked off the coast near Palacios. The sailors saw a mirage of three palaces, and swam toward the shore where the palaces seemed to be. Of course the palaces disappeared, but the name, Three Palaces (Tres Palacios in Spanish), did not disappear.





Matagorda County was organized in 1837 when Texas became a Republic. The area was ranch land and continued so until cotton began to be farmed. At the turn of the century, land developers moved into South Texas touting the climate, the access to navigable streams and the Gulf of Mexico, the land, and the network railroads available.





A real estate agent named W. C. Moore and others formed a corporation called The Texas Rice Development Company and developed an area in West Matagorda County, 19,400 acres, on Tres Palacios Bay. The area, called Bull Pasture, had been part of the famous Shanghai Pierce Ranch. A town was laid out at Hamilton Point in 1902 and named Tres Palacios (the Tres was later dropped).