Editing Hebbronville, Texas (section)

==Origin==
[[Image:Abandoned Hotel Viggo in Hebbronville, TX IMG 3387.JPG|thumb|left|The abandoned Hotel Viggo (built 1915) is located across the highway from the [[Jim Hogg County]] Courthouse in Hebbronville.]]

Hebbronville is located on land which once formed part of Las Noriecitas, one of the earliest ranches founded in the area.

The town's namesake, James Richard Hebbron, acquired land, ''circa'' 1880, from the descendants of the original grantee, Ignacio Benavides. With two others, he bought {{convert|18000|acre}}, in what was then Duval County, just above [[Pena, Texas|Peña]]. One of his sons, Arthur Hebbron, came down from [[California]] and took charge of running his ranch.

Hebbronville itself was created in 1883, when the Texas-Mexican Railway Company built a railroad through the area. Francisco P. Peña, operator of Peña Station on this route, refused to sell any land to the Texas-Mexican for a townsite. The company then approached J. R. Hebbron, who arranged for the sale of land for the new townsite, near Peñitas. The old train station at Peñitas was then loaded onto a flatcar, moved 1½ miles west and named Hebbronville.

For a time, Hebbronville ranked as the largest cattle-shipping center in the country, and it continues to be a hub of ranching activity.

A photograph of James R. Hebbron hangs in the Jim Hogg County Courthouse at 102 East Tilley Street in Hebbronville. He was born in 1828, in [[London]], England, but spent most of his adult life in California, mainly around [[Salinas, California|Salinas]], dying there in 1926.