Here in Texas, we like to have the biggest of everything, whether it’s boots, burgers or bulls. So I wasn’t surprised to learn that we even claim the original world’s biggest pecan, proudly displayed on the lawn of the Guadalupe County Courthouse in Seguin, about 35 miles east of San Antonio. I decided it was a story (and a nut) I needed to crack for myself.
Seguin has a population of about 35,000 and boasts a lively downtown shaded by towering pecan trees. It’s appropriate considering pecans are one of the town’s most valuable resources and grow plentifully along the Guadalupe River.
So after filling my belly at Burnt Bean Co. with a platter of Tex-Mex barbecue, it was time to fill my head with nutty facts.
I crossed the street and found the original giant pecan in all its glory in front of the courthouse. While not technically a real pecan, this concrete rendition was placed here in 1962 and measures more than 5 feet long and 2½ feet wide. It was impressive for sure but not as dramatic as the battle it spawned.
Twenty years later, in 1982, farmers in Brunswick, Missouri, claimed the title with a 12-foot pecan that weighed over 12,000 pounds. In 2002, Seguin native John Pape set out to make a bigger one but didn’t know about the one in Missouri’s pecan capital, and so his 11-foot pecan on wheels never wore the crown. But in 2010, the city of Seguin banded together and crafted a 16-foot pecan that brought the title securely back where it belongs.
The current king of pecans is polished up and ready for photos just outside the Pecan Museum of Texas in Seguin. Everything is bigger in Texas, even if it takes a few years.
