Crystal City

Crystal City, Texas

Crystal City, Texas

Downtown view of Crystal City, seat of Zavala County, Texas. Photograph by Billy Hathorn.
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Promotion: Nearby Map of Zavalla County

Crystal City, the county seat of Zavala County, is at the intersection of U.S. Highway 83, Farm roads 393, 16, 1433, 65, and 582, and the Missouri Pacific Railroad, one mile north of the Dimmit county line in south central Zavala County. Two land developers, Carl F. Groos and E. J. Buckingham, developed the town in the early 1900s. In 1905 they purchased the 10,000-acre Cross S Ranch, sold off most of the land as farms, and platted the townsite of Crystal City, named for the clear artesian water of the area. The town received a post office in 1908, the same year the Crystal City and Uvalde Railway provided the first rail service to the community and the first school building was erected. Crystal City was incorporated in 1910, when it had an estimated 530 inhabitants, and by 1914 the community had a bank, three general stores, and the weekly Chronicle. In 1928 the county voted to make Crystal City the county seat, and that same year the community added a city manager to its mayor-council government. As soon as the railroad reached Crystal City, the community became a major shipping point for winter vegetables. At first onions were the major crop, but by the 1930s the city developed a reputation as the "Spinach Capital of the World." In 1936 the first annual spinach festival was held, and the following year a statue of the cartoon character Popeye, that mighty consumer of spinach, was erected across from the city hall. Carrots, tomatoes, peppers, and other vegetables were also marketed, and a vegetable cannery was opened in 1932.

Under the stimulus of agricultural growth the population rose from an estimated 800 in 1920 to 6,609 in 1930, then fell slightly to 6,529 in 1940. The majority of residents in the 1930s were Mexican or Mexican-American migrant laborers who followed a seasonal cycle of spinach in the winter, onions in the spring, and beet or cotton work in the summer and fall. A government report of 1941 estimated that 97 percent of the 5,500 Mexican Americans living in Crystal City at that time were migrant laborers. Making Crystal City their home base, most of these workers lived in slum conditions with poor services and limited educational opportunities. During World War II an alien internment camp was built on the site of a prewar labor camp on the edge of town. Japanese, German, and other immigrants were relocated to the camp from all over the country, and a sizable group of Japanese nationals caught by the war in the United States or in a number of South American countries were also interned at the camp. After the camp closed in 1948, the area was converted to low-rent housing, and the schools built there became part of the Crystal City ISD. In 1945 the California Packing Corporation, later the Del Monte Corporation, built an extensive canning plant just northwest of Crystal City. Since that time it has been the largest single employer in the area. The company added a can-manufacturing plant in 1958 and expanded its Crystal City facilities several times in the 1970s and 1980s.

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Mark Odintz | © TSHA

Handbook of Texas Logo

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.

Belongs to

Crystal City is part of or belongs to the following places:

Currently Exists

Yes

Place type

Crystal City is classified as a Town

Location

Latitude: 28.69084640
Longitude: -99.82571300

Has Post Office

Yes

Is Incorporated

Yes

Population Count, 2021 View more »

6,335