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CARRIZO
SPRINGS, TEXAS
Dimmit County Seat,
South
Texas
US Highway 83
State Hwy 85 & FM 2644
50 miles S of Uvalde
44 miles SE of Eagle Pass
45 miles SW of Dilley
8 miles NW of Asherton
Population: 5655 (2000) 5,745 (1990)
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History in
a Pecan Shell:
The names: Phillip Dimitt had received the original grant of land
as a naturalized Mexican citizen. He became the honoree for the county
name - although the legislature misspelled Dimitt. People have grown
fond of the misspelling over the years and so it has been kept.
Carrizo is Spanish for reeds.
Carrizo Springs is the oldest town in Dimmit County. The name comes
from the local springs (and the reeds) and the settlement began around
1865. Families from Atascosa County moved into the area that year
and they were joined the following year with a group from Goliad.
Dimmit County was organized in 1880 and Carrizo Springs was designated
the county seat.
In 1880 early settler Levi English donated land for the town including
schools, churches, and a courthouse. |
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In 1884 the
Dimmit County
courthouse was finished and the Carrizo Springs Javelin was first
published.
The population was a healthy 500 persons in 1885.
In 1900 artesian water was used to irrigate crops and new settlers
arrived. In 1904 thirty wells were irrigating 1,000 acres of cropland.
In 1910 the town incorporated when the San Antonio, Uvalde and
Gulf Railroad came to town.
The town had 1,200 people by 1915, and the town was electrified the
next year. The 20s began with a drought, but later in the decade they
caught up with the rest of the nation's prosperity. Streets were paved
and the courthouse
was remodeled.
By 1928 the population had reached 2,500.
Carrizo Springs' growth kept it the dominant city in Dimmit County
and it had the only newspaper and only radio station in the county
in 1984.
In 1988 the population was 7,553.
The Dimmit
County Courthouse |
Carrizo
Springs Chronicles
The
Vidalia Onion
"Toombs County, Georgia is acknowledged to be the birthplace
of the Vidallia Onion. Georgia had been having a problem with weeds
that were growing faster than the locally planted onion sets. Texas
transplants, it was hoped, would give the farmers a much-needed
head start and so Texas Granex onions from Carrizo Springs were
shipped there in 1952. ..." more
Henigan
Water
by Mike Cox ("Texas
Tales" column)
"...Word of the amazing restorative qualities of the water
spread faster than the contents of a spilled bucket. The Javelin
said the people of Carrizo Springs got so healthy that the local
doctors practically fell into poverty...."
Dimmit
County Chamber of Commerce
310 West Nopal / P. O. Box 699
Carrizo Springs, TX 78834-6699
(830) 876-5205
http://www.dimmitcountytx.com/
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