Santa Rita, Texas


Santa Rita, Texas, now a ghost town, was a town near Brownsville, Texas in Cameron County, Texas, United States. 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. Around the late 18th century, this area was a ranching community, even before the city of Matamoros, Tamaulipas was established in 1826. When Brownsville, Texas was finally elected as the county seat a few months later, most of the residents from Santa Rita left to the winning townsite. By the late 1930s, nothing remained in Santa Rita. Today, Santa Rita is found near the colonia of Villa Nueva, a historical site in the Rio Grande Valley, northwest of the city of Brownsville, Texas.