24/7 Trauma and Biohazard Cleanup in Freer, TX

Freer is a city in northwestern Duval County, Texas, at the intersection of U.S. Highway 59 and State highways 16, 44, and 339, and it is the second largest town in the county.

The Freer area was originally called Las Hermanitas, meaning 'the Sisters,' for two hills south of the present townsite, and it later became known as Government Wells, for a water well dug by United States Cavalry troops in 1876.

Freer was settled after Houston promoter C. W. Hahl advertised Rosita Valley land in 1915, and in 1925 the Post Office Department chose the name Freer, honoring early settler Daniel John Freer, who had bought and developed the original townsite.

Freer is the only town in the United States named Freer.

A first oil boom hit Freer in 1928, and after the Heller-Suttle Number One well came in during the spring of 1932, a second, even bigger boom made Freer the second-largest oilfield in the United States by 1933.

During the boom, Freer's population swelled to an estimated 5,000 to 8,000 people, some 3,000 oil wells around town produced about 50,000 barrels of oil a day, and Life magazine called Freer 'the last of the tough frontier oil towns.'

Despite the oil money, Freer's main streets were not paved until 1938, and the city was first incorporated in 1936.

Freer is home to the Official Rattlesnake Roundup of Texas, an annual event that dates back to the 1960s.

Freer had a population of 2,461 at the 2020 census, down from 2,818 in 2010 and 3,241 in 2000, as the oil economy cooled.

Freer covers about 4.1 square miles, and roughly four in five of its residents identify as Hispanic or Latino.