Tres Palacios Bay

[1] Two conflicting stories explain the name of the bay Tres Palacios, which is Spanish for "Three Palaces".

[2] Another account explains that the bay was named for José Félix Trespalacios, who briefly served as Governor of Texas in the 1820s.

Tres Palacios was founded in the 1830s, and was widely known as Tidehaven due to its location on the outer tidal reaches of the bay.

The town's name derived from the Gulf Coast University of Industrial Arts, which had been erected in the area by the Hurd Land Company.

The town prospered in cattle, until the late 1910s, when a farming shortage, followed by an ice storm caused many residents to leave.