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DEL
VALLE, TEXAS
Travis County, Texas
Hill Country
Highway 71 – between Austin’s Airport and the Colorado
River
7 Miles East of Austin
Population:
Est. 300 (2000) |
History
in a Pecan Shell
The name comes from Santiago Del Valle, the owner of the original land grant.
The town developed in the mid 1870s with a post office being granted later that
decade.
The community soon had a gristmill and two cotton gins as well
as a school and three churches. Although the population was a mere 50 persons,
it swelled to 75 for 1900.
By the late 1920s Del Valle had 150 residents
(estimated) but fell drastically during the Great Depression. Some sources give
the figure of 25 residents. The community was transformed in 1942 when Del Valle
Air Field was constructed. The field was later renamed Bergstrom AFB and became
the Austin Bergstrom International Airport in the 1980s.
From the
early 1970s through 2000 the estimated population was steady at 300.
Other
that the name on the post office, Del Valle is hard to discern. Anticipated construction
of hotels and service industries for the airport never materialized and today
(2009) closed businesses, vacant lots and abandoned signs liter the area. |
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1940s
Travis County map showing Del Valle
(Below "V" in "TRAVIS".
East of Austin.)
Courtesy Texas
General Land Office |
| Texas
Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history and vintage/historic
photos of their town, please contact
us. | |
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