Uvalde County

Uvalde County, Texas

Uvalde County, Texas

Scenic view of Uvalde County, Texas. Photograph by Billy Hathorn.
Uvalde County, Texas

Uvalde County, Texas

Map of Uvalde County, Texas. Map Credit: Robert Plocheck.

Uvalde County, named for Spaniard Juan de Ugalde, is in Southwest Texas midway between San Antonio and the International Amistad Reservoir on the United States-Mexico border. The county's center is eight miles north of Uvalde at 29°22' north latitude and 99°45' west longitude. Uvalde County covers 1,588 square miles. The Nueces, Leona, Sabinal, Dry Frio, and Frio rivers flow through Uvalde County. At the intersection of U.S. highways 83 and 90 is Uvalde, the county seat. Other major towns are Knippa, Sabinal, and Utopia; minor towns are Cline, Montell, Concan, and Reagan Wells. The main line of the Southern Pacific Railroad parallels U.S. 90 and connects Uvalde with Knippa and Sabinal to the east and Cline to the west. The climate has been described as continental, semi-arid, and subtropical-subhumid. The average rainfall is 23.22 inches annually. Temperatures range from an average low of 37° F and average high of 63° F in January to an average low of 71° and high of 98° in July. The Edwards Plateau covers the northern third of the county. Elevations range from 2,000 feet above sea level to 700 feet above sea level. Low rolling hills and deep canyons cut across the county's midsection from southwest to northeast. The northern and western portions have the short grass and scattered timber common to the eastern Edwards Plateau and Hill Country. Trees include live oak, shinnery oak, red oak, and juniper; buffalo and mesquite grasses dominates the western margin. The southern and eastern region is in the South Texas brushy plains and features thorny vegetation with scattered post oak and live oak.

Artifacts discovered in various parts of the county indicate that people hunted and gathered in the future Uvalde County as long ago as 7000 B.C. The Edwards Plateau and the surrounding hills were the favorite hunting grounds of the Comanche, Tonkawa, and Lipan Apache Indians. Either Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca in 1535 or Andrés do Campo in the middle 1540s may have been the first European to set foot in Uvalde County. Evidence of a permanent Indian village on the Leona River at a place south of the Fort Inge site is indicated in the written accounts of Fernando del Bosque's exploration in 1675. After the establishment of San Antonio in 1718, the Uvalde County region was consistently traversed by Spanish soldiers, commercial packtrains, buffalo hunters, cattlemen, and mineral prospectors. In 1762 Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria Mission was established near the site of present Montell and near the site of a prehistoric Indian village at Candelaria Springs. The mission was abandoned in 1767 due to Comanche attacks. On January 9, 1790, Juan de Ugalde, governor of Coahuila and commandant of the Provincias Internas, led 600 men to a decisive victory over the Apaches near the site of modern Utopia at a place known then as Arroyo de la Soledad. In honor of his victory, the canyon area was thereafter called Cañon de Ugalde.

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Ruben E. Ochoa | © TSHA

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Adapted from the official Handbook of Texas, a state encyclopedia developed by Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). It is an authoritative source of trusted historical records.

Currently Exists

Yes

Place type

Uvalde County is classified as a County

Altitude Range

650 ft – 2200 ft

Uvalde County

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  • Uvalde County
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Place Type Population (Year/Source) Currently Exists
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Town 1,879 (2020) Yes
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Uvalde County by the Numbers

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Population Counts

Uvalde County
Pop. Year Source
26,741 2019 United States Census Bureau

Civilian Labor Counts

Uvalde County
People Year Source
10,836 2019 Texas Workforce Commission

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Per Capita Income (USD) Year Source
$39,458 2019 U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis

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Property Values

Uvalde County
USD ($) Year Source
4,082,360,085 2019 State Property Tax Board

Retail Sales

Uvalde County
USD ($) Year Source
369,437,909 2019 State Comptroller of Public Accounts

Wages

Uvalde County
USD ($) Year Source
91,815,312 2019 Texas Workforce Commission

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Unemployment Percentage Year Source
7.4 2019 Texas Workforce Commission

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Rainfall (inches) Year Source
24.6 2019 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

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Min. (January Average, °F) Max. (July Average, °F) Year Source
38.6 96.1 2019 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

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Land Area

Uvalde County
Area (square miles) Year Source
1,552.0 2019 United States Census Bureau

Total Area

Uvalde County
Area (square miles) Year Source
1,558.6 2019 United States Census Bureau