Saragosa is a small town in
Reeves County
Reeves County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 14,748. Its county seat and most populous city is Pecos. The county was created in 1883 and organized the next year. It is named for Geo ...
,
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
, United States. According to the
Handbook of Texas
The ''Handbook of Texas'' is a comprehensive encyclopedia of Texas geography, history, and historical persons published by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA).
History
The original ''Handbook'' was the brainchild of TSHA President ...
, the community had an estimated population of 185 in 2000.
Saragosa has a post office with the ZIP code 79780.
Geography
Saragosa is situated at the junction of
State Highway 17 and
FM 1215, approximately two miles north of
Interstate 10
Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost cross-country highway in the American Interstate Highway System. I-10 is the fourth-longest Interstate in the United States at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. This freeway is part of the originally ...
in southeastern Reeves County.
History
The community was first settled in 1880 when fifteen families established themselves along Toyah Creek.
Antonio Matta built his horse ranch headquarters in the area. A post office opened in 1884, but closed in 1891. The post office was reestablished in 1900. In 1909, the plat for Saragosa was filed at the Reeves County courthouse. With the arrival of the
Pecos Valley Southern Railway
The Pecos Valley Southern Railway is a short-line railroad headquartered in Pecos, Texas, United States.
PVS operates a line from Saragosa to an interchange with Union Pacific at Pecos. The line generally parallels State Highway 17. The r ...
two years later, Saragosa became a shipping point for alfalfa, cotton, and fruits. By 1925, the community had a population of approximately 25. That number rose to 150 in 1931, but soon declined to around 25 in the mid-1930s. In 1938, Saragosa's school district consolidated with nearby
Pecos Pecos may refer to:
Places
* Pecos River, rises near Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States
* Pecos, Texas, a city in Reeves County, Texas, United States
* Pecos County, Texas, named for the Pecos River
** Pecos Spring, a spring
* Pecos, New Mexico, a ...
.
Throughout the 1940s, the community was home to four businesses and sixty residents. There were nine businesses in Saragosa at the end of the 1950s. The population peaked at around 380 in 1960.
In 1968, Saragosa Elementary School closed and students were bussed to an elementary school in Pecos.
The population stood at 173 in 1970 and rose slightly to 183 by the late 1980s, where it remained relatively stable during the remainder of the twentieth century.
1987 tornado
On May 22, 1987, a multi-vortex,
F4 tornado
The Fujita scale (F-Scale; ), or Fujita–Pearson scale (FPP scale), is a scale for rating tornado intensity, based primarily on the damage tornadoes inflict on human-built structures and vegetation. The official Fujita scale category is determ ...
struck Saragosa.
The half-mile wide tornado destroyed eighty percent of the community, killing 30 and injuring 121. The storm caused $1.5 million in damage. Most of Saragosa had been rebuilt by the early 1990s. The city had previously been hit by tornadoes in 1938 and 1964.
Education
Public education in the community of Saragosa is provided by the
Pecos-Barstow-Toyah Independent School District
Pecos-Barstow-Toyah Independent School District is a public school district based in Pecos, Texas, United States. In addition to Pecos, the district serves the town of Toyah in Reeves County and Barstow in western Ward County. In 2009, the sc ...
.
References
External links
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Unincorporated communities in Reeves County, Texas
Unincorporated communities in Texas