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Frontiersmen began to immigrate into the south Concho Valley in 1870s, locating along the "Toe Nail" trail from Fort McKavett to Fort Concho. By mid-1880s the settlement began to develop and a Union Church was organized, the South Concho Irrigation Co. was established in 1885, and built a dam and 3 miles of canals to furnish water to dry farmland. Christopher C. Doty (1857-1944), who had arrived in Texas in 1879, opened a store and applied for a post office in 1888, after rejection of application for "Alice", due to another office of that name, Doty suggested "Christobal" (Spanish for Christopher). Confirmation of establishment of the office and Doty's appointment as postmaster arrived in Jan, 1889, but the spelling of the name had been changed to Christoval. After flood in Aug. 1906, a tract of bottomland was purchased for a city park, which became popular Baptist campground and site of Confederate reunions, both attended by thousands of regional residents. A bath house, built in 1915 at nearby mineral wells, was first of several local health facilities. Arrival of the Panhandle & Santa Fe Railroad, in 1930, made Christoval a shipping point for area sheep, wool, and cattle industries. (1973). |
