Santa Rita, Texas

Santa Rita, Texas, now a ghost town, was a town near Brownsville, Texas in Cameron County, Texas, United States.[1] It is believed to have been the first government seat in the county in 1848, and perhaps the earliest town to have been named by English-speaking people from the area.[1] Around the late 18th century, this area was a ranching community, even before the city of Matamoros, Tamaulipas, was established in 1826.[1] When Brownsville was finally elected as the county seat a few months later, most of the residents from Santa Rita moved to the winning townsite. By the late 1930s, nothing remained in Santa Rita.[1] Today, Santa Rita is found near the colonia of Villa Nueva (San Pedro), a historical site in the Rio Grande Valley, northwest of the city of Brownsville.[2]