Val Verde Co. TX - A Sketch of the History of Del Rio

Submitted by:  Houston Tracy, Jr.  TreSearch3@aol.com

A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF DEL RIO

As appears in the 1933-34 City Directory, Compiled and Published in October 
1933 by Queen Advertising Company, copies available (in 1933) from W.H. 
Manning, publisher. (His listing in the directory shows that his occupation 
was that of an electrician, not a printer and he resided at 611 Pulliam 
Street)

     The original settling of this beautiful valley was due to a cowboy who 
in 1868, while trailing a band of Indian thieves, rode into it by accident.  
His report to his employer describing the valley was so facinating that in a 
short time thereafter a band of five white men and their families moved here 
and settled, calling the settlement San Felipe Del Rio, and to this day we 
retain the latter half of that name.

     Indians were a serious menace to life and property then, so while busy 
digging out the present system of irrigation canals the settler also built a 
stockade for protection.  The stockade was located at the southern end of 
what we call South Main Street now and the pioneers built so well that the 
principal building of the old stockade stands there today [and still does as 
a tourist center in the year 2000] in good condition.

     The last big Indian fight was won by the settlers in 1874 and after that 
as the red men became scarcer other white men moved into the fertile and by 
this time well irrigated valley.  By 1883 Del Rio had a population of 300 
souls and there were three stores and three saloons.  One of those stores, 
under one management or another, has served the city up to the present time 
and is known as Roachâ^À^Ùs Inc.

     The wonderful San Felipe Springs, having a 72,000 gallons per minute 
flow of clear pure water, constant then and now, attracted the Southern 
Pacific Railway to Del Rio.  This abundant water supply was the deciding 
factor in the location of the railway division point.  Construction gangs 
from east and west met at Langtry and connected up the railroad in 1883.

     Growth now became more rapid and a separate county organization was 
needed.  Val Verde County was organized in 1885.

     The first telephone system was installed in 1895 and the first electric 
lights burned in Del Rio in 1898. By 1900 the population was 2000.  Our 
present Del Rio National Bank was organized in 1904.  Del Rio was 
incorporated in 1905, and in 1910 Del Rio Bank & Trust Company came into 
existence.

     Del Rio was a peaceful little town then, but somebody brought in an 
automobile one day.  Clouds of dust followed it up and down Main Street in 
dry weather and when the rains came it skidded around or got stuck in the 
mud.  But other automobiles came along and after the horses had shied at them 
for a while they became ordinary and Main Street had to be paved.  Then more 
automobiles, then paving to the five mile fork on Devilâ^À^Ùs River Road.

     Churches and schools kept pace with the growth of the city.  More and 
more paving was laid in the city and on the highways.  Old businesses 
continued to grow and new ones sprang up and Del Rio was ready for the more  
rapid growth that came with the beginning of pipe line and refinery 
construction in 1927.  During 1928 that work was completed and a pipe line 
was in operation using a large tank farm near the city and near the tank farm 
was a refinery turning out finished products.

     All this growth demanded more and better hotel accommodations and a 
local company put the Hotel Roswell, a strictly modern hotel having 100 rooms 
in operation on October 1, 1928.

     The original telephone exchange, after passing through the hands of 
various owners, was acquired by the present management [Del Rio & Winter 
Garden Telephone Company] about 1905 and had at that time a capacity of three 
hundred lines.  Today it has grown to a system having twenty-two exchanges 
serving many thousands of telephones in fifteen counties with connections to 
the nationwide Bell System at several points.

     That first light plant saw its changes too.  From owner to owner it 
passed until it was bought by the Texas Central Power Company in 1921 and 
that company was absorbed by the Central Power and Light Company in 1925.

     Development on a large scale followed it acquistion by the Central Power 
and Light Company.  In 1928 two large storage dams, with hydro-electric 
generating equipment in each were built on Devilâ^À^Ùs River.  The first or upper 
has a generating capacity of 2500 H.P. [horsepower] The second or lower dam, 
four miles down stream from the first has a generating capacity of 1500 H.P. 
and is one of the very few fully automatic generating plants in the country.  
Yet another plant, this time a steam plant with a generating capacity of 2000 
H.P. was completed by the company in 1930.

     This enormous supply of electric power [miniscule by todayâ^À^Ùs standard] 
is available to Del Rio first and the surplus above the needs of this city is 
fed onto transmission lines that supply power to industry in a large part of 
the state.

     Still further development came in the form of natural gas to supply the 
need for fuel at the big steam plant.  The Texas Gas Utilities Company, 
supplying gas from its wells in Maverick and Zavala counties to six counties, 
laid a pipeline from their Maverick County field through Del Rio to the steam 
plant in 1930 and incidentally piped the city for gas.  Thus an adequate 
supply of natural gas was made available from that companyâ^À^Ùs fields which 
have an approximate daily flow of 100,000 M [million] cubic feet at pressures 
ranging to 2250 pounds.

    And then came XER to tell the world about Del Rio.  A super-power 
broadcasting station [radio], located on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande, 
but with remote control studio in Del Rio and called 
The Voice of Two Nationsâ^À^Ý. [Note:  Personal knowledge of my father... the 
Del Rio radio studio was located inside Dr. John R. Brinkleyâ^À^Ùs home located 
on South Loop, what was then the road from Del Rio to the U.S.-Mexico bridge 
crossing]

     The wool and mohair industry was marching along with the fastest of them 
at this time.  Early in the history of Del Rio it was proven tha the 
surrounding territory was more favorable than any other in this country for 
the raising of sheep and goats.  Range values have increased steadily and 
herds have been bred up until today we find that oour city is the largest 
inland wool and mohair port in the United States.

     After looking at what is behind, we cannot help but admit that the 
outlook for the future is favorable indeed.  With the resumption of business 
activity on a nation-wide scale, there is little doubt but that 
Del Rio will soon be a large city, instead of a small city. 

====================================================================
     USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing
         free information on the Internet, data may be used by
         non-commercial entities, as long as this message
         remains on all copied material. These electronic
         pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit
         or for presentation by other persons or organizations.

         Persons or organizations desiring to use this material
         for purposes other than stated above must obtain the
         written consent of the file contributor.

         The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives
         to store the file permanently for free access.

         This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb
         Archives by:  Houston Tracy, Jr.  TreSearch3@aol.com
====================================================================