Towns and Communities
When trying to determine the location of settlements in Zapata County, you need to be aware that there was a major flood in August 1954 that devastated the area. Some communities were completely erased from the map and other communities moved to higher ground. Most of these communities were first settled as the headquarters of large ranches by Spanish or Mexican citizens. Note that these communities are close to the water and the east part of the county is mostly empty.From south to north:
(New) Falcon, Lopeño, Morales-Sanchez, Zapata, Las Palmas, Ramireño, San Ygnacio
Bustamante, Nueva Dolores, Camaron, Chihuahua, Filegonia and Escobas no longer exist. Escobas was actually an oil company town and shut down when the wells were done.
Uribeño, San Pedro, San José, Santa Fé, and El Tigre no longer exist because of the flood.
There were originally TWO towns called Ramireño - Ramireño de Abajo and Ramireño de Arriba. When Abajo wanted a post office, the name was changed to Falcon to avoid confusion.
San Ygnacio can be called the oldest town in Zapata County because it didn't start out as a ranchero but some of the other sites have had non-native people on them since the 1750s.
The city of Zapata has had at least three previous names - Habitación, Carrizo and Bellville.
Newer places are Siesta Shores, Medina and Los Lobos.