Bebe, Texas

Unincorporated community in Texas, US

Bebe is an unincorporated community in Gonzales County, Texas, United States.

According to the Handbook of Texas, the community proper had an estimated population of 52 in 2000;^[1] however, its rural environs are rated at 1,240 residents.^[2]

It formerly had a set of local schools and other services in the early 20th-century.^[3]

Services

As of 2020, by way of federal funding through a "General Land Office grant," a Bebe water facility will be supplemented by an emergency generator. It will allow water to be supplied in the area without immediate power, in cases of an outage. Originally, the generator was intended to be constructed eastward in Wrightsboro but was moved to Bebe. It will serve 1,240 residents in the general area.^[2]

History

A post office called Bebe was established in 1900, and remained in operation until 2002.^[4] The community was named after the brand-name Beebee baking powder.^[5]

Notable economic activity is indicated to have existed in Bebe as late as 1985; photographic documentation and interview detailed a citizen at a local convenience store, who claimed to hold keys to “every gate and door in the area.”^[6]

References

^ "Bebe, Texas". The Handbook of Texas online. Retrieved November 7, 2009.
^ ^a ^b "Sites of well water generators to be changed". The Gonzales Inquirer. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
^ "Jerry Wayne Oakes". Gonzales Inquirer. Retrieved April 29, 2021.
^ "Gonzales County". Jim Forte Postal History. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved August 17, 2015.
^ Tarpley, Fred (July 5, 2010). 1001 Texas Place Names. University of Texas Press. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-292-78693-6.
^ The New Yorker: ...“Bebe, Texas,” 1985...a woman with a coiffed sixties beehive stands at a convenience-store counter before her bottle collection and keys that open “every gate and door in the area,”...