Announcement for Kleberg County Oil and Gas Company, 1919

Around the turn of the twentieth century, Robert Justus Kleberg I began to take an even more active role in the development of towns in South Texas. Along with his mother-in-law Henrietta King and his friend John Kenedy, Kleberg organized the Kleberg Town and Improvement Company of Corpus Christi. In 1903, the development company filed a charter to build the town of Kingsville, situated three miles from King Ranch. In the following years, the Kleberg Town and Improvement Company organized a number of utilities, companies, and subsidiary organizations in support of Kingsville and its surroundings. They included the Kingsville Power Company, the Kingsville Publishing Company, the Kingsville Lumber Company, and the Kleberg County Oil and Gas Company, whose founding was announced in the Corpus Christi Caller (July 15, 1919).