Tree Company in Del Valle, TX

in 1832 ten leagues of land were transferred to Santiago del Valle, then secretary of the Mexican government of Coahuila y Texas. Santiago del Valle never lived on the land he was granted. In 1835 he sold nine leagues to Michel Menard, who in 1838 helped found Galveston, Texas. Thomas F. McKinney in 1839 purchased the Del Valle grant. McKinney sold all but about 2,800 acres before his death in 1873.

The community of Del Valle, established in the mid-1870s, was named after the land grant. In 1878 a post office opened with William Givens serving as postmaster. By the mid-1880s Del Valle, with 50 residents, also had three churches, two cotton gins, one general store, and one steam gristmill. The primary crops shipped by farmers in the Del Valle area were cotton and grain. By 1900 Del Valle had 75 residents. About 150 people lived in Del Valle in 1927.

The Great Depression hampered the community, which had 25 residents in the early 1930s. In 1942 the Del Valle Army Air Base opened (later renamed Bergstrom Air Force Base), leading to an increase in the area’s population. In the mid-1940s Del Valle had 125 residents. In the mid-1950s Del Valle had 200 residents. From the early 1970s to the early 1990s, Del Valle’s population estimates hovered around 300. The number of businesses grew from 12 in 1970 to 35 in 1990. The population was 2,476 in 2000 and had 158 businesses. The military base was closed in 1993, to be re-opened as Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in 1999 which brought growth to Del Valle and Southeast Austin.