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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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