Papalote Creek, a few yards south, was crossed by the fierce Karankawa Indians, who found kite-shaped pebbles and named it Papalote, meaning "kite-shaped" or "wing-shaped." Along its banks came the leaders of the Power and Hewetson colonists, holding Mexican land grants in the 1830's. On its Rata tributary there is evidence that the Mexican Army camped on its way to suppress the Texas Revolution. By 1857 the town of Papalote had emerged and became the county's center of entertainment, with a circular dance hall built by cowboys who traded steer yearlings at $3 a head for lumber, along with rooster fights, ring tournaments, and horse races. In 1886, when the railroad arrived, the town was booming. After the turn of the century, however, Papalote began to decline. A land company sold lots to settlers from as far away as Hawaii, but hopes of growing citrus fruits were ruined when the first killing frost doomed the project. Threats of Pancho Villa's raids continued as late as 1916, when women and children hid in a brick schoolhouse. In 1948, Main Street was bypassed by U.S. Highway 181, and today there is no post office, only a rural route for the few remaining households.