Del Valle, Texas, Travis County. (original) (raw)

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.

Travis County 1907 Postal Map showing Del Valle
(Below "V" in "TRAVIS". East of Austin.)
Courtesy Texas General Land Office

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