Carrizo Springs

Carrizo Springs, the county seat of Dimmit County, is on U.S. Highway 83 eight miles northwest of Asherton. The name of the town comes from the local springs, which were named by the Spanish for the cane grass that once grew around them. Carrizo Springs is the oldest town in Dimmit County; it was founded in 1865 by a group of fifteen families from Atascosa County, led by Levi English, who had visited the area earlier. A second group of settlers arrived from Goliad about two years later.

The Carrizo Springs settlement was still quite small in 1880, when Dimmit County was organized. Nevertheless, as the largest and oldest community in the county, it was designated the county seat. In 1880 English donated a parcel of land for a townsite, including land designated for schools, churches, and a courthouse. The town began to grow, and the residents constructed their homes of solid, lasting materials. In 1881 a local group of Masons helped to build the first schoolhouse in Carrizo Springs, and two years later construction began on a courthouse. A newspaper, the Carrizo Springs Javelin, began operations in 1884. By 1885 Carrizo Springs had two churches, at least one grocery, a livery stable, a harness and boot shop, and a population of 900. By 1892 the town also had two druggists, a steam gristmill and gin, and a nursery.