The King Ranch Shaped Kleberg County

Richard King, a Rio Grande steamboat captain, bought the Santa Gertrudis land grant in 1853 and built what became one of the largest ranches in the world. The ranch spans parts of six counties, with most of its acreage in Kleberg. The county itself was carved out of the Nueces County territory in 1913 and named after Robert Justus Kleberg Sr., whose son — also named Robert Justus Kleberg — was managing the King Ranch at that time.

Around 1903, Henrietta King (Richard's widow) opened a large tract of ranch land for sale and deeded part of it to a railroad construction company to bring the rail line through the area, which led directly to the founding of Kingsville. She also supported the railroad that connected the area to markets. Oil was found in the county in 1919, adding another economic base on top of ranching. South Texas Teachers College — now Texas A&M University-Kingsville — opened in 1925. The TSHA Handbook of Texas has a full county history article online.