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| Dimmit County is named for Philip Dimmitt, a major figure in
the Texas Revolution. The reason the county name differs is due to the fact that the bill creating the county misspelled
Dimmitt's name. Dimmit County is not to be confused with the city of Dimmitt, located approximately 520 miles
north in Castro County. |
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Between the Texas Revolution and the Mexican Warq (1836-46), most of Dimmit County lay in the disputed
area between the Rio Grande and the Nueces River. Since neither the Republic of Texas nor the Mexican government
could establish control over this strip of contested land, known at the time as Wild Horse Desert or El Desierto
Muerto (Dead Desert), it became a haven for desperate characters. In 1858, Dimmit County was officially formed
from parts of Bexar, Webb, Maverick, and Uvalde Counties. Dangers posed by outlaws and unfriendly Indians, however,
deterred settlement in the county until after the Civil War. The first permanent settlement in Dimmit County, Carrizo
Springs, was founded in 1865 by a group of fifteen families from Atascosa County.
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The county was formally organized in 1880 with Carrizo Springs
as county seat. That same year, Levi English donated land for a county courthouse, schools, and churches in the
town. The Carrizo Springs Javelin, the county's only newspaper, was established in 1884. By 1885 the
county seat was described as a "flourishing town" with two churches, a grocery, a livery stable, and
a harness and boot shop.
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