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A
letterhead of an early Encinal Business
Courtesy Texas General Land Office
Archives and Documents Dept. |
| History in
a Pecan shell:
There had been a small community called Ancaster
near or on the land that is now known as Encinal. About the time the International-Great
Northern Railroad came through in the early 1880s - there was a stop called Burro.
Encinal is Spanish for Oak Grove and this name was submitted for a post
office (which was granted) in 1883.
After
the railroad came to town - it became a shipping point for sheep and cattle. The
first school was established in 1886 and the population was a healthy 900 by 1890.
In 1931 the town had three public schools with a total of 363 students.
In 1933 Encinal had a population of 800 and it stayed about the same through the
1940s. After the war
the population drifted away until there were only 650 people living there. By
1949 it had dropped to only 300.
Natural gas had been discovered in the
area in the 70s. Encinal has doubled its population from 300 people in 1980 to
over 600 in 1990. | |
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