Imperial, Texas. (original) (raw)

History in a Pecan Shell

A post office and school opened here in 1910 and the town is said to be named after the Imperial Valley of California. Prior to the post office the community went by the name of Redlands. One Ben E. Bush laid out a townsite in 1911 and a small dam impounded water diverted from the Pecos River.

With an irrigation canal in place, an attempt was made to encourage settlement but the water had a high salt content which effectively killed that idea. The population was a mere 25 people in the mid-1920s which increased tenfold by 1949. By the late 1960s the population had mushroomed to nearly 1,000 residents, but has since declined to 428 - the number given for the 2000 census.

Sign to the Horsehead Crossing of the Pecos River
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, December 2007

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