Del Rio, Texas, the county seat of Val Verde County, has a history that goes back far beyond the city’s establishment.

Thousands of years before Del Rio was established, the area was first settled by prehistoric Indians who lived in caves and rock shelters along the banks of the Rio Grande and Devils River as early as 11,000 years ago. Later, when Spanish explorers came through the area, they described the Native Americans with several descriptions. Still, they were likely Jumano bands, which, by the 1700s, had merged mainly with Apache groups. The first Spanish exploration of the area occurred in 1690 when Gaspar Castano de Sosa crossed the Rio Grande near Del Rio on his way to establish settlements in what is now New Mexico.

The first non-Indian residents in the area were the Spanish, who established a small mission complex in 1736 near the site of present-day Ciudad Acuna, Del Rio’s Mexican sister city.

A few of these Spaniards settled on the north side of the Rio Grande in what would later become Texas. However, the mission lasted only briefly. In 1808, another mission was established about three miles downstream on San Felipe Creek. It, too, was short-lived.

Although the region had good water, it would still be years before anyone permanently settled the area. In 1834, James Grant and John Charles Beales established a small settlement on San Felipe Creek, but due to Indian attacks and drought, it was soon abandoned.

In February 1849, the Whiting and Smith expedition passed through the area surveying Texas’ new southwestern boundary. Soon afterward, a temporary post called Camp Blake was established along the San Antonio-El Paso Road on the Devils River. This post, along with others, including Camp Hudson, 21 miles north of Comstock, was established to protect area settlers and travelers against Indian attacks.

By 1856-57, San Felipe Springs was situated at the crossroads of the 1,470-mile San Antonio-San Diego mail route and the Chihuahua Road, which wagons used to haul silver and gold from Mexico to Indianola, the chief port on the Texas coast.

After settlers came to the Del Rio area in 1864, the “Mother Ditch” and other irrigation canals were dug to irrigate vineyards, orchards, and gardens. Soon, they established a small settlement called Las Sapas or El Salto. During this time, the settlement experienced little growth because many of those living in the area were transient, working their way to other, more well-established communities.

During the Civil War, the military camps of the area were abandoned, leaving the frontier open to Indian attacks. When the war ended, Fort Clark in Brackettville was reclaimed in 1866, and from 1869 through 1882, Black Seminole Scouts defended the Texas border west of Fort Clark against Indian attacks.

The community of San Felipe del Rio was established in 1868 with the formation of the San Felipe Agricultural, Manufacturing, and Irrigation Company. Purchasing thousands of acres of land around San Felipe Creek and constructing a network of irrigation canals, they promoted settlement by giving land as wages to their employees, as well as selling small tracts of land to newly arriving settlers. By 1871, the company had completed canals to 1,500 acres of land. The irrigation canals also provided water to the developing settlement. By 1875, the number of acres of land under irrigation had doubled. Some of the canals are still in operation today.

Residents in the area referred to the slowly developing townsite as San Felipe del Rio. According to local lore, the name originated from early Spanish explorers who offered a Mass at the site of the nearby springs on St. Philip’s Day in 1635.

One of the earliest businesses was John Perry’s Mercantile, built in 1870. Said to be the largest store between San Antonio and El Paso, it now serves as part of the Whitehead Memorial Museum and is the oldest commercial structure in Del Rio. More small businesses followed.

James H. Taylor, one of the city’s founders, relocated to the area around 1870. He and his wife, Paula Losoya Taylor, built a one-story adobe house, which soon became the center of the community. The oldest home in Del Rio still stands today on the southwest corner of Pecan and Nicholson Streets. One of the owners of the San Felipe Agricultural, Manufacturing, and Irrigation Company, Taylor was also a merchant who cultivated much of his acreage for crops and owned a grist mill.

The first school was built in 1874, and Judge Kratz taught there. He started with just 15 students and continued to teach through the 1870s.

On September 6, 1876, Camp Del Rio was established on San Felipe Creek, on land provided by the San Felipe Agricultural, Manufacturing, and Irrigation Company. Originally known as Camp San Felipe, it was an outpost of Fort Clark, some 28 miles to the east. It was one of a chain of military fortifications built to defend the isolated settlements on the southwest frontier against Indians and Mexican bandits. The post included Officers’ Quarters, a hospital, a bakery, a storehouse, and a warehouse. Indian raids in the area had ended by 1890, and the troops were moved to other posts. Camp Del Rio was officially abandoned the following year, and the land was returned to its original owners. Today, all that remains of the post is a historical marker. It was located near the northeast corner of Dr. Fermin Calderon Boulevard. (U.S. 277) and De La Rosa Street. The historic marker is located near the amphitheater.

When Del Rio founder James Taylor died in 1876, he left all his property to his wife, Paula. She later married a man named Charles Rivers, but he also died in 1879. She would go on to become a major benefactor for the city, donating land to be utilized for Camp Del Rio, contributing land for area schools, and helping to build some of the town’s Catholic churches.

By the time the railroads began to lay their tracks towards Del Rio in 1881, the town was home to only about 200 people. Both the Southern Pacific Railroad, building west to east, and the Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio Railroad, building east to west, were working to make their way to Del Rio. The Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio Railroad bridged San Felipe Creek in June 1882, and when the first train arrived in Del Rio, the population began to boom.

The first railroad depot, made of wood, was located at the exact location where a newer and much larger brick depot would be built in the 1920s. With the railroad in full operation, the town also began to undergo significant changes. Previously, most homes and businesses were situated near San Felipe Creek; however, new homes and businesses began to move north of the railroad.

In 1882, two gristmills were in operation, harnessing the power of San Felipe Creek, and the town had developed into a thriving community with several businesses, including the ever-present saloons. The following year, when the first post office opened, the U.S. Postal Department requested that the name be shortened to Del Rio to avoid confusion with San Felipe de Austin. Also built in 1883, the ” Ice Plant ” was one of the city’s most famous local enterprises.” Situated on San Felipe Creek, it also served as a gristmill and later as a power-generating plant.

When Del Rio was first established, it was entirely dependent on water from San Felipe Creek, which was hauled in large barrels by wagons into the community. However, in 1883, the railroad built the first piped water system. Water was then pumped from the creek to a large wooden tank located north of the railroad tracks. The water was also made available to residents for $1.00 per month. It also provided fire protection for the community.

1883 was a busy year for progress in Del Rio, including the establishment of the Val Verde Winery. Frank Qualia, originally from Milan, Italy, first settled in San Antonio, but most of the good land had already been settled. When he heard about the fertile land and water in Del Rio, he moved there in 1881. In 1883, he married Mary Franke, and the two began planting vineyards to produce wine for family and friends in the traditional old country style. He received his vintner’s license in 1883 and began commercial operations. During Prohibition, the winery suffered a setback, but it persevered by producing non-alcoholic drinks and continuing to make wine for sacramental purposes, which remained legal. Today, it’s Texas’ oldest bonded winery. Still operating, it is run by third-generation vintner Thomas Qualia, with the knowledge and experience that have been handed down for generations. Located at 100 Qualia Drive, the winery is open for visitor tours Monday through Saturday.

Another prominent Italian in early-day Del Rio was a man named John Taini. A stonemason, he and his partner, G.B. Cassinelli, worked for the railroad and then for the U.S. Army, constructing stone buildings for Fort Clark in Brackettville, Texas. Once the fort was completed, the two moved to Del Rio in the early 1880s. Taini worked to help build several prominent buildings, including the 1887 Val Verde County Courthouse, the 1895 Sacred Heart Catholic Church, the 1904 Methodist Church building, and several others.

In the early 1880s, local benefactor Dona Paula Losoya Taylor Rivers placed a large cross atop the familiar Del Rio landmark called Round Mountain. This steep-sided, cone-shaped hill, located south of the city, has gone by several names, including Sugar Loaf Mound, La Loma de la Cruz, and Hill of the Cross.

This artificial-looking mountain is associated with several legends, including a tale of townspeople who fought a group of Mexican bandits. In the battle, many were killed and buried at the base of the mountain. Dona Paula placed the cross at the top of the mound to recognize it as hallowed ground. Other legends associated with the mound revolve around treasure and spirits, which we will discuss later.

In 1884, realizing that Del Rio’s Mexican Colony had no official cemetery, Dona Paula donated four acres of land on which the Cementerio Loma De La Cruz was established. Buried in this historic graveyard are three former U.S. Army Seminole Indian Scouts and the Reverend Ramon V. Palomares, first pastor of Del Rio’s Mexican American Methodist Church. By 1933, the cemetery was filled, and no more burials took place.

Unfortunately, walking through this historic cemetery is a sad experience. Beautiful monuments are toppled and lie on the ground, tombstones are cracked and broken, ground-level vaults have been uplifted, and some of them are even partially exposed. At first, I was furious at the vandalism that occurred here, until I concluded that the damage had been caused by flooding. Later, I learned from the Val Verde County Historical Commission that the damage done to the historic cemetery is actually the result of both flooding and vandalism.

In the same year the cemetery was established, Del Rio’s first newspaper, the Del Rio Dot, was founded by Miss Lottie Lyons, with William J. Lyons as its first editor. However, the newspaper was short-lived. It would be several years before the next newspaper, the Del Rio Record, was established in 1887. Others followed, including the Daily Mirror in 1895 and the Del Rio Daily in 1906. Today, the city is served by the Del Rio Herald-News, which has been operating for more than 70 years

By the spring of 1884, the Methodist and Episcopal congregations had built a church in Del Rio. Before the wood-frame building was erected on Pecan Street, parishioners had met in private homes. Unfortunately, shortly after its completion, a tornado destroyed the building, leaving the town without a church again.

The Val Verde County Courthouse was built in 1887. It was originally only two stories, but a third was added in 1915.

In 1885, Val Verde County was organized from portions of Crockett, Kinney, and Pecos Counties, and Del Rio became its county seat. The limestone courthouse was constructed in 1887. Early development in the county was dependent on the railroad, the military, ranching, agriculture, and retail business.

In 1891-92, the Sacred Heart Catholic Church was constructed at the intersection of Mill and Losoya Streets. Before the beautiful limestone building was constructed, services were first held in private homes and in a wooden house located on the same site. The Gothic Revival structure was enlarged and remodeled in 1929. Today, it continues to serve its parishioners.

By 1901, Del Rio had received electric power from the ice plant, which was subsequently converted into an electric light plant. Four years later, the city was officially organized in 1905. In the business of an organized city, officials were appointed and elected, taxes were established, and criminal laws were imposed. In these early years, many of the criminal codes focused on eliminating any “Old West” mentality in the city. Horse racing in the streets, vagrancy, public drunkenness, and swimming nude in San Felipe Creek were prohibited.

In 1903-04, the Methodists and Episcopalians finally built another church on the same site as the first, which had been destroyed years earlier. With Del Rio quickly growing during the early years of the 20th Century, it wouldn’t be long before the congregation would outgrow the stone chapel. A much larger Methodist Church was completed in 1931. The beautiful new church is located on Spring Street. The old stone chapel then served as storage for several years. Today, it stands abandoned and is slowly falling into ruin. The Episcopalians also built a new church — the Saint James Episcopal Church, located on Greenwood Street.

Although the city was moving into the future, its frontier mentality was not yet behind it. During the Mexican Revolution (1910-1916), several border towns were raided, prompting the establishment of Camp Michie on the outskirts of Del Rio. The semi-permanent military camp was home to soldiers on border patrols from Fort Clark, who were also tasked with guarding railroad bridges along the border, including the High Bridge across the Pecos River, and other strategic points.

By 1914, the city’s population had reached more than 6,000 and would grow even more when Camp Michie, once again, became an important outpost. When World War I began that year, the guarding of the bridges became even more critical, as the tracks were a vital link for moving men and equipment between the Pacific Coast and the Gulf of Mexico.

The post, which housed cavalry and infantry troops, was primarily a tent camp but did have a few permanent structures. It was officially disbanded in June 1921, and in 1924, the land was sold back to the original owner. Nothing remains of the old post today.

In 1933, in walked a man named Dr. John R. Brinkley, who had lost his medical license to practice in the United States for performing a controversial operation that transplanted goat glands into men who suffered from impotence.

In 1918, Brinkley opened a clinic in Milford, Kansas, and advertised his services widely. After visiting a Los Angeles, California, radio station in 1922, he was convinced that this form of marketing was the most effective way to attract customers. In 1923, he formed the KFKB radio station in Milford, aggressively promoting his medical practice. However, in 1929, he lost his radio license. By this time, though, he had accumulated a fortune and moved to Del Rio, Texas. Across the border in Ciudad Acuña, he established what would become XERA radio, the most powerful radio station of its time. He also bought and enlarged what is known as the Brinkley Mansion in Del Rio today.

In 1939, following the signing of various international treaties with the U.S. and the implementation of the Brinkley Act, which prohibited U.S. broadcasting studios from being connected to transmitters in Mexico via phone lines or other means, Mexico closed its high-power radio station.

Brinkley then opened a new medical practice in Arkansas but kept his home in Del Rio, traveling back and forth between the two locations. After more legal troubles, he died penniless in 1942 in San Antonio. A private residence today, the Brinkley Mansion continues to stand in South Del Rio at 512 Qualia Drive. The license for the radio station would remain silent until 1947.

Over the years, the government continued to use the isolated Del Rio area for different types of military training. When World War II began, the army established a base near the city, which was later renamed Laughlin Army Field in 1943, for pilot training and a bombardment school. It was named after Jack T. Laughlin, a B-17 Flying Fortress navigator who became Del Rio’s first WWII casualty when his plane was shot down in the Battle of the Java Sea, Japan, in January 1942. It also became an Army Air Forces Auxiliary Field but was closed in October 1945.

However, the base was reactivated in May 1952, becoming the Laughlin Air Force Base. Its initial mission was to train F-84 fighter pilots. By 1957, the base had been assigned to the Strategic Air Command and provided a home for RB-57 and U-2 reconnaissance aircraft.

Today, the base is an important Air Training Command center. Approximately 500 pilots graduate every year. According to base authorities, the base and the City of Del Rio maintain one of the best relationships of any military post in the nation.

While the Air Force base was being developed, history continued at the old Dr. Brinkley’s radio station building, bringing fame to one of the nation’s most popular broadcasters and ending in bloodshed. In 1959, the station, now XERF, was purchased by a Texas corporation formed by famed announcers Ramon D. Bosquez and Arturo Gonzalez, who, as of this writing in 2011, is Del Rio’s oldest living resident. The new company increased the station’s power far beyond what was legally allowed in the U.S. to a booming 250,000 watts. This power enabled the AM signal to be heard in all 50 states of the U.S., as well as in Canada and Latin America.

Announcer Bob Smith, who, with the birth of Rock’ N’ Roll, became Wolfman Jack, joined the powerful radio station from 1962 to 64. Though Wolfman Jack gained a huge audience and made a name for himself at the radio station, Mexican bandits and corrupt officials resented his success. The same year that Wolfman Jack began broadcasting, Mexican bandits attacked the radio station, and one person was killed. Two years later, the station was attacked again, and two people were killed. The investors and Wolfman Jack then abandoned the station. No one was ever held accountable for the deaths.

In the meantime, Del Rio maintained a steady population, continuing a primary economy of ranching and agriculture. In the 1960s, the city thrived and underwent significant changes with the development of U.S. Highway 90, located north of the original townsite. Though numerous businesses profited from the new highway, it devastated Del Rio’s old downtown area.

Del Rio’s growth got another boost when the Amistad Dam and Reservoir were built on the Rio Grande in 1969. Built for flood control, irrigation, power, and recreation, the lake is located 12 miles north of Del Rio. Owned by both the United States and Mexico, it is operated by the International Boundary and Water Commission. It was named after the Spanish word “friendship” for the cooperation and goodwill exhibited by both countries in the project.

With the influx of many snowbirds, fishermen, and water enthusiasts flocking to one of the most beautiful blue lakes in Texas, Del Rio’s population had increased to almost 31,000 people by 1990. The area continues to thrive, with a ranching economy primarily based on Angora goats and sheep, supplemented by tourism, trade with Mexico, and the presence of a military base.

Today, Del Rio is home to about 35,000 people and has not forgotten its rich history. Throughout the city, numerous historic buildings and markers are located. As cross-country travelers, Del Rio also has some of the nicest folks we’ve met anywhere.

More Information:

Del Rio Chamber of Commerce
1915 Veterans Boulevard.
Del Rio, Texas 78840
830-775-3551

©Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated May 2025.

See our Del Rio & Val Verde County Photo Gallery HERE

Also See: 

Del Rio to Sanderson on the Pecos Trail

John R. Brinkley – Goat Gland Doctor

Pecos Heritage Trail

Texas Main Page

Sources:

Braudaway, Douglas; Del Rio – Queen City of the Rio Grande; Arcadia Publishing; Chicago, IL; 2002
Handbook of Texas
Texas Escapes
Wikipedia