Editing Benavides, Texas (section)

==History==
The town is named after Plácido Benavides (1837&ndash;1919),<ref>DeLeon, 1980, p.4</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Kohout|first=Martin Donell|title=Benavides, Texas|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hjb04|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=[[Texas State Historical Association]] |access-date=16 March 2011}}</ref> namesake nephew of [[Plácido Benavides]] (1810–1837), [[Tejano]] 1832 [[alcalde]] of [[Victoria, Texas|Victoria]], who served under [[Stephen F. Austin]] with [[Juan Seguin]], in the [[Siege of Béxar]].

Plácido Benavides whom the town is named after served in the [[Confederate States Army]]. After the war, he built his "Rancho Palo Alto" into one of the largest ranches in Duval County. In 1880, he agreed to let the county locate a railroad station on his property. In 1881, he donated {{convert|80|acre|ha}} to establish the community that grew up around the station on the [[Texas Mexican Railway]].

In 1882, [[Archie Parr]] arrived to manage the Sweden Ranch for the Lott & Nielson Pasture Company. The former schoolteacher and ranch hand later became a rancher, [[Texas Senate|Texas state senator]], and the first "Duke of Duval", [[political boss]] of the county. His middle son, [[George Berham Parr]], succeeded him as ''El Patrón'' and Duke of Duval. Other descendants of Archie also figured prominently in county politics. In 1911, Archie campaigned unsuccessfully to move the [[county courthouse]] from [[San Diego, Texas|San Diego]] to Benavides.<ref name=Lynch>{{cite book
  |first=Dudley M. |last=Lynch |title=The Duke of Duval: The Life and Times of George B. Parr
  |date=January 1, 1976 |isbn=0-87244-044-3 |lccn=76-54438
  |location=[[Waco]] |publisher=Texian Press |access-date=2013-09-09
  |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qE0PAAAAYAAJ
}}
</ref>