Dimmit County, Texas

Dimmit County, in southern Texas along the Rio Grande River, is surrounded by Maverick County on the northwest, Zavala County on the North, Frio County to the northeast, LaSalle County on the east and Webb County to the sourth. Carrizo Springs, the county's largest town and the county seat is located 44 miles southeast of Eagle Pass and 116 miles southwest of San Antonio.

Cities, Towns & Communities

Asherton | Bermuda | Big Wells | Brundage | Carrizo Hill | Carrizo Springs - county seat | Catarina | Dentino (Denton Colony) | Las Vegas | Palm (Palm Colony, Beachy) | Valley Wells (Good Luck Colony) | Winter Haven

History

In 1858, Dimmit County was officially formed from parts of Bexar, Webb, Maverick, and Uvalde Counties. Dangers posed by outlaws and unfriendly Indians, however, deterred settlement in the county until after the Civil War. ... The first permanent settlement in Dimmit County, Carrizo Springs, was founded in 1865 by a group of fifteen families from Atascosa County. ...The county was formally organized in 1880 with Carrizo Springs as county seat. That same year, Levi English donated land for a county courthouse, schools, and churches in the town. The Carrizo Springs Javelin, the county's only newspaper, was established in 1884. By 1885 the county seat was described as a "flourishing town" with two churches, a grocery, a livery stable, and a harness and boot shop. Unlike most frontier towns, Carrizo Springs had no saloon. County residents voted to outlaw the sale of alcohol in the early 1880s; and Marshall Fisher, himself a teetotaller, vigorously enforced this law. By 1892 the town also supported a steam gristmill-gin, two apothecaries, and a nursery. The growth of Carrizo Springs mirrored the development of the county as a whole between 1870 and 1890. By 1890 the county had ninety-six farms and ranches, and of these only five were ten acres or smaller. 

Dimmit County. Created February 1, 1858; organized November 2, 1880 Named in honor of Philip Dimmitt, a pioneer trader and captain in the Texas Army who died in 1841. Carrizo Springs, The County Seat (3.7 mi. N Carrizo Springs, US Hwy. 83) - Historical Marker Text. Marker erected 1936. 

County Histories

Dimmit County Mesquite Roots, 1984 by  Laura Knowlton Tidwell.

"Historical Note on Dimmit County, Texas," by Paul S. Taylor in the Southwestern Historical Quarterly 34, October 1930.

Location

Carrizo Springs, TX 28° 31' 18.9444" N, 99° 51' 38.1996" W

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