De Leon Turned a Crop Change into a Summer Tradition

De Leon began with a railroad sale. On July 7, 1881, Texas Central officials sold town lots from a flatcar to a crowd of about one hundred. A month later, the townsite was still thirty-three blocks of trees and brush. Cotton and cattle drew early settlers, but the crop story did not stay put.

The boll weevil reached the area in 1906 and weakened cotton's hold. Farmers shipped one carload of peanuts the next year. By 1914, De Leon had a peanut mill. The crop filled five hundred carloads and brought sixty cents a bushel. Peanuts became the leading crop, while pecans, peaches, and melons added other harvests to the local economy.

The Peach and Melon Festival also began in 1914. Its school reunion, festival queen, and free melon slicing joined crop pride to a town homecoming. That shared year gives the tradition its shape: the town was building a peanut business while making room to celebrate summer fruit. De Leon did not preserve the old cotton economy in festival form. It celebrated the mix that came after it.