| City of Del Rio | |
|---|---|
| — City — | |
| Amistad Reservoir, popular for water sports, is located west of Del Rio | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Texas |
| County | Val Verde |
| Government | |
| • Type | Council-Manager |
| • City Council | Mayor Roberto 'Bobby' Fernandez Al Arreola, Mary Ann Zepeda Mike Wrob Alfredo 'Fred' Contreras Reno Luna Tina Martinez |
| • City Manager | Robert A. Eads |
| Area | |
| • Land | 38.8 km2 (15 sq mi) |
| • Metro | 8,370.8 km2 (3,232 sq mi) |
| Population (2009) | |
| • City | 44,286 |
| • Density | 846.9/km2 (2,193.5/sq mi) |
| • Metro | 57,165 |
| Time zone | CST (UTC-6) |
| • Summer (DST) | CST (UTC-5) |
| Website | CityOfDelRio.com |
Del Rio is a border city in and the county seat of Val Verde County, Texas, United States.[1]. Del Rio is connected with Ciudad Acuña via the Lake Amistad Dam International Crossing and Del Río-Ciudad Acuña International Bridge. Del Rio is also home to Laughlin Air Force Base, the busiest pilot training base in the United States Air Force.
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Del Rio is the principal city of the Del Rio Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Val Verde County;[2] the micropolitan area had an estimated population of over 50,000 in 2007.[3] Located across from Del Rio, in the Mexican state of Coahuila, is the city of Ciudad Acuña with a city population of 209,000.
Del Rio is known as the American address of legendary Mexican radio stations XERA and XERF just over the U.S.-Mexico border in Ciudad Acuña; their 500,000 watt signals could be heard at night as far away as Canada. Legendary deejay Wolfman Jack operated XERF in the 1960s, using a Del Rio address to sell various products advertised on the station.[4]
The Spanish established a small settlement south of the Rio Grande in present day Mexico and some Spaniards settled on what became the United States side of the Rio Grande as early as the 18th century. However, true development of the U.S. side of the Rio Grande did not begin until after the American Civil War.
The San Felipe Springs, about eight miles (11 km) east of the Rio Grande on the U.S. side of the border, produces 90 million US gallons (340,000 m3) of water a day. Developers acquired several thousand acres of land adjacent to the springs, and the San Felipe Creek formed by the springs, from the State of Texas in exchange for building a canal system to irrigate the area. The developers sold tracts of land surrounding the canals to recover their investment and show a profit. These investors formed the San Felipe Agricultural, Manufacturing, and Irrigation Company in 1868. The organization completed construction of a network of irrigation canals in 1871. Residents referred to the slowly developing town as San Felipe Del Rio because local lore said the name came from early Spanish explorers who offered a Mass at the site on St. Philip's Day, 1635.
In 1883 local residents requested a post office be established. The United States Postal Department shortened "San Felipe del Rio" to "Del Rio" to avoid confusion with San Felipe de Austin. In 1885 Val Verde County was organized and Del Rio became the county seat. The City of Del Rio was incorporated on November 15, 1911.
The San Felipe community was started by the Arteaga Family. A street was named after the family. Arteaga Street that also has a park, El Puetra Colorado: Arteaga Park. The family is known to come together every few years at the park. Few of the original family is still alive but the neighborhood is still owned by relatives or distant relatives. Major part of the neighborhood is family.
The history of Del Rio is preserved, particularly the 19th century at the Whitehead Memorial Museum downtown.
In 1942, the Army Air Corps opened Laughlin Field nine miles (14 km) east of Del Rio as a training base for the Martin B-26, but it was deactivated in 1945. As the Cold War pressures built, Laughlin Field was rebuilt and renamed Laughlin Air Force Base (LAFB). It was again used as a home for flight training. In the mid-1950s, the Strategic Air Command (SAC) noted Laughlin's remoteness that allowed for secret operations, and opened its strategic reconnaissance program there with the RB-57, a bomber modified for high altitude reconnaissance. SAC soon transitioned to the high altitude U-2 Dragonlady and based all of them in Laughlin AFB. In 1962, it was Laughlin-based U-2s that took the first photographs of land-based medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) sites being constructed in Cuba. This was the photo intelligence that started the Cuban Missile Crisis. The U-2s were relocated to Davis–Monthan AFB near Tucson, AZ in July 1963 and Laughlin's mission transitioned to the Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) mission in the T-37 and T-38 aircraft. Laughlin AFB also provides training in the T-1A Jayhawk and the T-6A Texan II. Laughlin plays a large part in the Del Rio community as the area's largest employer. The Border Patrol is the city's second largest employer (with two large stations along with the Sector Headquarters). At one time Del Rio was in the running to become the home of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) for agents of the U.S. Border Patrol and Federal Air Marshal Service but lost to the current site in Artesia, New Mexico. The proposed site was located on property belonging to Laughlin AFB. Since the base has unused land, the Air Force is able to lease it to other federal law enforcement agencies for such projects. This benefits Laughlin AFB and the City of Del Rio, Texas both financially and economically. Del Rio was one of 5 cities in the United States selected for a FBI regional headquarters office; the building is currently under construction adjacent to the Roswell Hotel in downtown Del Rio and will be ready by 2011.
Del Rio is located at (29.370716, -100.895839).[5]
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 15.4 square miles (40.0 km²), of which, 15.4 square miles (40.0 km²) of it is land and 0.06% is water.
Del Rio lies on the northwestern edges of the Tamaulipan mezquital, also called the south Texas brush country. It is also near the southwestern corner of the Edwards Plateau, which is the western fringe of the famous, oak savanna-covered Texas Hill Country; that area is dotted with numerous small springs; one of these is the San Felipe Springs, which provide a constant flow of water to San Felipe Creek. The creek supplied fresh water for drinking and irrigation to early settlers of Del Rio and the springs are still the town's water supply.
Del Rio, west to about the Pecos River, has a mix of desert shrub and steppe vegetation, depending on soil type, with the gray-leafed Cenizo (Leucophyllum spp.), Acacia, and Grama grasses dominant members of local flora. The terrain is mostly level, but some areas are dissected with substantial canyons and drainages, though none of the upland areas are high or large enough in areas to be considered mountains.
The climate is semi-arid in moisture and subtropical in temperature. Humidity is more often high than low, with periodic morning fog due to Gulf of Mexico airmasses moving northwest into the area. This gives Del Rio and adjacent areas the effect of being in a coastal dryland area, even though the Gulf of Mexico is over 300 miles (480 km) away. Such humid periods alternate with periods of hot and dry desert airmasses in the spring and fall, or cold and dry great plains airmasses during winter months. Moisture rarely lasts long enough for weather systems to react with it to create much precipitation, as happens more frequently not far to the north and east of the area; there are exceptions during some autumns (tropical weather systems) and spring months (stalled fronts to the north).
Summers are long, hot, and frequently humid; winter months vary between sunny, warm, cloudy, and cool weather, depending on the wind direction and jet stream location. Snow or freezing rain is rare, about every 7 to 10 years, and such wintry precipitation does not occur most winters, or last long enough to be of consequence.
| Monthly Normal and Record High and Low Temperatures | ||||||||||||
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rec High °F | 90 | 99 | 101 | 106 | 109 | 112 | 108 | 109 | 110 | 106 | 96 | 90 |
| Norm High °F | 62.8 | 68 | 76 | 82.7 | 88.7 | 93.7 | 96.2 | 96 | 90.6 | 81.7 | 70.9 | 63.5 |
| Norm Low °F | 39.7 | 44.1 | 51.6 | 58.5 | 66.7 | 72.1 | 74.3 | 74.1 | 69.4 | 60.5 | 49.2 | 41.2 |
| Rec Low °F | 15 | 14 | 21 | 33 | 45 | 55 | 64 | 64 | 48 | 28 | 22 | 10 |
| Precip (in) | 0.57 | 0.96 | 0.96 | 1.71 | 2.31 | 2.34 | 2.02 | 2.16 | 2.06 | 2 | 0.96 | 0.75 |
| Source: USTravelWeather.com [1] | ||||||||||||
As of the census[6] of 2000, there were 33,867 people, 10,778 households, and 8,514 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,194.0 people per square mile (846.9/km²). There were 11,895 housing units at an average density of 770.6 per square mile (297.5/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 87.78% White, 1.21% African American, 0.70% Native American, 0.49% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 17.79% from other races, and 2.68% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 81.04% of the population.
There were 10,778 households out of which 42.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.3% were married couples living together, 15.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 21.0% were non-families. 18.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.09 and the average family size was 3.56.
In the city the population was spread out with 31.7% under the age of 18, 8.8% from 18 to 24, 27.6% from 25 to 44, 20.2% from 45 to 64, and 11.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 94.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.6 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $27,387, and the median income for a family was $30,788. Males had a median income of $27,255 versus $17,460 for females. The per capita income for the city was $12,199. About 22.9% of families and 27.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 35.8% of those under age 18 and 26.4% of those age 65 or over.
Lake Amistad provides year-round, water-based recreation opportunities, including boating, fishing, swimming, scuba diving and water-skiing, as well as other recreational opportunities for picnicking, camping, and hunting. The area is rich in archeology and rock art, and contains a wide variety of plant and animal life. Del Rio is home to the George Paul Memorial Bullriding, which is the oldest stand-alone bull riding event in the world.[7] Del Rio will be home to a pro minor league baseball team in 2012.The Pecos League of Professional Baseball Clubs, based in Houston, Texas, is an independent professional baseball league in the Southwestern United States set to begin play in May 2011 with 8 teams. The Pecos League will play a 72 game regular season with two rounds of playoffs. The Pecos League will use National League Rules. The league will add four expansion teams for 2012, Del Rio Grande (Del Rio, Texas), Lubbock Hubbards (Lubbock, Texas), Odessa Outlaws (Odessa, Texas) and the Pueblo Wranglers (Pueblo, Colorado).
Del Rio International Airport serves the city.
United Airlines provides commercial airline service from Del Rio to Houston.
Amtrak provides passenger rail service at the Del Rio station on the Sunset Limited route which proceeds eastbound to San Antonio continuing on to New Orleans, and westbound to El Paso, continuing to Los Angeles.
The city is served by the San Felipe Del Rio Consolidated Independent School District. There are around 10,450 students and 637 teachers at 14 campuses. Del Rio is now home to Premier High School of Del Rio a public charter school.>Education. - Del Rio Chamber of Commerce.</ref>
The 1994 movie Texas (James A. Michener's Texas)[12] had some scenes filmed in Del Rio. The movie, which took place in the beginning of the 19th century as many Anglo-Saxons were settling in the Mexican province of Texas, featured Randy Travis and Anthony Michael Hall.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) operates the Del Rio Parole Office in Del Rio.[13]
The Geo Group, A private correctional facility corporation based in Boca Raton, Florida manages the Val Verde Correctional Facility in Del Rio, Texas. It has a contract to house offenders for the U.S Customs & Border Protection and the U.S Marshal service. The facility opened in 2001 with 688 beds. In 2007 the facility was expanded to its current capacity of 1,400 beds. It is one of the major employers in the Del Rio area.
The United States Postal Service operates three Post Office facilities in the Del Rio area. The Downtown Post Office (Broadway Street), Northside Post Office (Bedell Avenue), and Laughlin Post Office (LAFB).[14][15]
Barrio Chihuahua: In the southern part of the city, the neighborhood is named after the Chihuahua Soccer Field, located in between to the north West Gibbs, to the west Texas State Spur 29, to the southeast Garfield Ave., West Garfield, and to the far east S. Ave F.
Buena Vista: Buena Vista is located near Buena Vista Park.
Lake Amistad and North Del Rio past the Buena Vista area has nice subdivisions in the Del Rio area with several homes.
Cienegas Terraces: Technically outside the city limits is a neighborhood that is home to the "Duck Pond" and various ranches, on the west side of the city.
Eastside: Named that by locals after the school on the corner of Bedell & 7th Street, the neighborhood is also home to Star Park. Surrounded by Veterans Boulevard to the west and E. Gibbs to the south, the neighborhood is home to the Val Verde Regional Medical Center.
San Felipe: The original neighborhood in Del Rio, the city originally got it name from it as in "San Felipe del rio",south of chihuahua and the Northside. Note: Anywhere south of Chihuahua but not past San Felipe Creek is known as The Winery, due to its close proximity to Val Verde Winery, the oldest privately owned winery still operating in the United States.
Westside: Home to Del Rio International Airport, the neighborhood is surrounded to the north by W. 15th, 18th, and 17th streets, to the east by Veterans Blvd., and to the south by W. Gibbs bordering Chihuahua.
Comalia: A neighborhood isolated by the Woodlawn cemetery and a bridge that leads to the U.S.-Mexico border crossing. It can be found by traveling down W. 2nd Street.
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