Paleo-Indians artifacts indicate these people lived in Dimmit County as far back as 9200 BC.Thearchaic period (6000 BC to AD 1000) up to the arrival of the Spanish brought increasedhunter-gatherers to the area. These Indians subsisted mostly on game, wild fruits, seeds, and roots.[5] They carved tools from wood and stone, wove baskets, and sewed rabbitskin robes. They also made pottery and hunted with bows and arrows.[6] Their most effective weapon was theatlatl, a throwing stick that greatly increased the deadliness of their spears.Coahuiltecan Indians native to now-Dimmit County were later squeezed out byApache andComanche. In 1870, Comanches andKiowas raided the county, killing 3 men and stealing a Mexican boy.Texas Rangers and local volunteers, as well as disease, ran the Indians out of the county by 1877.[7][8]
The area between theRio Grande and theNueces River, which included the county, became disputed territory known as the Wild Horse Desert, where neither theRepublic of Texas nor the Mexican government had clear control. Ownership was in dispute until theMexican–American War. The area became filled with lawless characters, who deterred settlers in the area. An agreement signed between Mexico and the United States in the 1930s put the liability of payments to the descendants of the original land grants on Mexico.[9][10]
Dimmit County was officially established in 1858 from parts ofBexar,Webb,Maverick, andUvalde Counties. The county was organized in 1880. Carrizo Springs became the county seat.[8][11]
Early settlers found Dimmit County to be an abundant grassland with mesquite, oak, and ash trees and wildlife that includedbuffalo, deer, turkeys, feral horses (mustangs), panthers, and javelinas. Artesian springs, bubbling up from a vast reservoir of underground water, fed into running streams that harbored giant catfish, crawfish, and mussels. Explorers found the area a good place to hunt mustangs, and to feed and water cattle.[12]
Pioneering cattleman Levi English settledCarrizo Springs in 1865 with a group of 15 families fromAtascosa County. Within two years, they were joined by a second group of settlers fromGoliad County. Early dwellings were crude adobe structures or dugouts. In 1880, Levi English donated land for a county courthouse, schools, and churches in the town.[13][14]
Lawlessness, banditry, and in particular, cattle rustling from both sides of the Mexican border, pervaded until the 1880s. MarshalJ. King Fisher, managed to bring about a reduction in the lawlessness. King also staunchly enforced the "dry county" law once the residents voted to outlaw the sale of alcohol.[8][15]
Dimmit County's first producing oil well was drilled in 1943. In 1980, Dimmit County farmers earned about $20 million for their crops, while about $60 million in oil and gas were produced.[8]
Formation of the 1914 White Man's Primary Association was designed to exclude Latino Americans from any meaningful participation in county politics. In the 1944Smith v. Allwright case, theUnited States Supreme Court found the White Primary to be unconstitutional.[16][17]
D.C. Frazier drilled the first artesian well, which produced gallons of water a minute, near Carrizo Springs in 1884.[18] By 1900, about 25 artesian wells were flowing in the Carrizo Springs area, but most of the water was wasted, and very little was used for irrigation. Colonel J.S. Taylor introduced large-scale Bermuda onion and strawberry farming to the area, and was the first to use irrigation on a large scale in Dimmit County. In 1899, Taylor built a 30 ft dam across the Nueces River to irrigate 2,000 acres (8.1 km2) of farmland. He also drilled a deep artesian well. By 1910, Taylor's methods were being imitated by a number of other developers and vegetable farmers.[19] Irrigation helped make Dimmit County part of theTexas Winter Garden region.[20]By the 1920s, however, artesian water began to dry up. The necessity of installing expensive pumps drove many farmers out of business. By 1934, theUnited States Department of the Interior concluded that the existing water supply would not support substantial additional development. By 1965, only about 15,000 acres (61 km2) were being irrigated. Much of the land reverted to rangeland.[8]
TheEagle Ford oil field was reported to be under development in 2011, with 3,000 wells projected to extract oil byhydraulic fracturing from tight shale formations. The oil play has improved business activity in the county, but raised fears regarding the adequacy of water supplies, as fracking requires injection of large quantities of water under pressure into wells to break surrounding rock.[22]
According to theU.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,335 sq mi (3,460 km2), of which 5.6 square miles (15 km2) (0.4%) are covered by water.[23]
Dimmit County, Texas – Racial and ethnic composition Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
As of the2020 census, the county had a population of 8,615. The median age was 38.2 years. 26.8% of residents were under the age of 18 and 18.3% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 94.4 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 92.1 males age 18 and over.[30]
65.2% of residents lived in urban areas, while 34.8% lived in rural areas.[32]
There were 3,020 households in the county, of which 36.9% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 43.5% were married-couple households, 18.3% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 31.6% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 24.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.[30]
There were 3,980 housing units, of which 24.1% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 71.0% were owner-occupied and 29.0% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.7% and the rental vacancy rate was 25.6%.[30]
As of thecensus[33] of 2000, 10,248 people, 3,308 households, and 2,646 families were residing in the county. Thepopulation density was 8 people per square mile (3.1 people/km2). The 4,112 housing units averaged 3 units per square mile (1.2/km2). Theracial makeup of the county was 76.95% White, 0.88% African American, 0.70% Native American, 0.66% Asian, 18.3% from other races, and 2.51% from two or more races. About 84.97% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
Of the 3,308 households, 42.0% had children under 18 living with them, 57.4% were married couples living together, 17.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.0% were not families. About 18.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.30% had someone living alone who was 65 age or older. The average household size was 3.06, and the average family size was 3.48.
In the county, the age distribution was 33.2% under 18, 8.8% from 18 to 24, 24.70% from 25 to 44, 20.7% from 45 to 64, and 12.6% who were 65 or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.30 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.10 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $21,917, and for a family was $24,579. Males had a median income of $25,000 versus $15,370 for females. Theper capita income for the county was $9,765. About 33.20% of the population and 29.70% of families were below thepoverty line. Of the total population, 40.30% of those under the age of 18 and 31.50% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line. The county'sper capita income makes it one of thepoorest counties in the United States.
^Wishhart, David J (2004). "The Spanish and the Great Plains 1540–1821".Encyclopedia of the Great Plains. University of Nebraska Press. pp. 345, 346.ISBN978-0-8032-4787-1.
^abcdeLeffler, John (June 12, 2010)."Dimmit County, Texas".Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. RetrievedDecember 17, 2010.
^Bartlett, Richard C; Williamson, Leroy; Sansom, Andrew; Thornton III, Robert L (1995). "The South Texas Plains".The Wild Horse Desert. University of Texas Press. pp. 123–141.ISBN978-0-292-70835-8.
^"Carrizo Springs, Texas".Texas Escapes. Texas Escapes – Blueprints For Travel, LLC. RetrievedDecember 17, 2010.
^"Nature's Harvest".Texas Beyond History. UT-Austin. RetrievedDecember 17, 2010.
^Leffler, John (June 12, 2010)."Levi English".Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. RetrievedDecember 17, 2010.
^Leffler, John (June 12, 2010)."Carrizo Springs".Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. RetrievedDecember 17, 2010.
^Adams, Paul (June 12, 2010)."John King Fisher".Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. RetrievedDecember 17, 2010.
^Long, Christopher (June 15, 2010)."The White Man's Union Associations".Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. RetrievedDecember 17, 2010.
^Taylor, Paul Schuster (1981).Labor on the land: collected writings 1930–1970. Arno Press. p. 83.ISBN978-0-405-14208-6.
^Cindy, Wilke (June 15, 2010)."Onion Culture".Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. RetrievedDecember 17, 2010.
^Odintz, Mark (June 15, 2010)."Winter Garden Region".Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. RetrievedDecember 16, 2010.
^Layden, R.L. (1976). Braunstein, Jules (ed.).Big Wells Field, Dimmit and Zavala Counties, Texas, in North American Oil and Gas Fields. Tulsa: The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. pp. 145–156.ISBN978-0891813002.
