Wharton County Was Settled by a Wide Mix of People

Wharton County was settled by many different groups. Southern planters arrived first. Then came European immigrants — Swedes, Germans, Czechs, Danes, English, and Welsh. Mexican and Hispanic workers came to work on farms and ranches. Japanese immigrant families arrived around 1900. They brought rice farming with them.

Today the county is roughly 46 percent Anglo, 39 percent Hispanic, and 14 percent African American. Many small towns still reflect the roots of the people who settled them in the late 1800s and early 1900s.