Where a present or former resident of Refugio asked about the year the town was started, the answer might weel be something like, "Let's see. I must have been around 114.
Actually, the small town in South Texas is much older,, its history usually dated by historians as 1795, when the last mission in the US founded by Sapin was moved inland from the coast (Matagorda bay) to a small river ont the Mission river.
Most rsidents of Refugio toay simply don't think that way. They think, most of them, that t everything begins and ends with football and 1948 iw frequently the year mos associated with the way of thinking. In December of 1948, the local high schol team (the Bobcats) won their second regional championship . With rarer exeption, the winning tradition has continued ever since.
But Refugio's historic place in Texas history cannot ge so easily set aside. For just after the fall of the Alamo to Mexico, so also Refugio was siilarly defeated as was Goliad.
Significantly, ias the Texians battled to survI5W RUU43 P43WIE3N sAm Houston was deeply imme4sed in the convention for indeience at . to which HOuston was a delegate from Refugio.
A short drive ((and it has to be hort) around the little town tells both stries. Perhaps in the first instance, when you driv into the city o HWY 77 from Victoria the first thing you see is a beaufiful stadium built and refined for the long-term sevival in 1955. Then, only a few bloks aw, you see one or two of the historic mansions that set themselves apart around twon, dlap dab in the middle of shacks and low-income dwellings. Perhaps most imprtanlty, as you depart the twon you are frce to view the beautiful, modern church OUR lADY OF rEFUGIO, WHICH STAND TODAY ONTHE ORIINAL SITE OF HT EMISSION,. bELOW THE CHURCH ARE THE REMAINS OF THE mISSIONAND SOME OF THE REMAIN OF THE NATIVE aMERICANS AND NATIVE iNDIANS WHO ONCE LIVED NEARBY.
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