Balmorhea, Texas

A 46,000-gallon-per-minute spring-fed pool in the desert, maintained at 72-76 degrees year-round. Home to the endangered Comanche Springs pupfish.

Called "Mescalero Spring" in 1849, when watering corn and peaches of the Mescalero Apaches. To Ft. Davis soldiers, 1856, was "Head Spring". Present name given by first permanent settlers, Mexican farmers. Miller, Lyles and Murphy in 1871 began large-scale commercial irrigation. Murphy built first canals. (1964)

Balmorhea Lake, an irrigation tank also called Lower Parks Reservoir, is located three miles southeast of Balmorhea in southern Reeves County (at 30°58' N, 103°44' W). The surrounding steep to gentle slopes are generally surfaced by reddish-brown to brown sands, clay loams, and clays that support scrub brush and sparse grasses. The lake was built near the prolific San Solomon Springs, which had a reported flow of twenty-two million gallons daily. In 1583 the entrada of Antonio de Espejo stopped at the spring when Jumano Indians guided the Spaniards up the Toyah valley. Dr. John S. Ford passed through the Toyah valley in 1849 and noted productive land along its banks. Madera Valley, near the reservoir, was farmed by prehistoric Indians and Hispanic settlers. After Fort Davis was reoccupied by the army at the end of the Civil War , a lucrative market opened for the grains, vegetables, and cattle of these farmers, who irrigated their fields from San Solomon Springs. In 1909 the Toyah Valley Irrigation Company was organized to supervise water use of the area. By 1915 Reeves County Water Improvement District No. 1 had acquired the water rights and built Balmorhea Lake and Dam. Construction began on the earthfill dam in 1916 and was completed in 1917. The lake surface covers 573 acres, and its capacity is 6,350 acre-feet of water. Sandia Creek feeds into the reservoir from the northeast, and Kountz Draw empties into it from the south. Runoff from Toyah Creek comes into Balmorhea Lake from Madera Diversion Dam and its canals. Surplus water from Phantom Lake Canal, which is supplied by several springs, is stored in Balmorhea Lake until it is needed for irrigation.

Balmorhea is on State Highway 17 about one mile southwest of Brogado in southwestern Reeves County. Indian and Mexican settlers farmed around the area from early times, taking advantage of the good supply of water from nearby San Solomon Springs . The town was laid out in 1906 in the center of a 14,000-acre tract watered by the springs. Balmorhea was named for the land developers who sent their agent, Ira M. Cole, to file the plat for the townsite. Their names were E. D. Balcom, H. R. Morrow, Joe Rhea, and John Rhea, and they organized the Toyah Valley Irrigation Company to supervise water usage. A public school was organized, and a post office opened in 1908. About 1910 the Pecos Valley Southern Railway laid its tracks from Pecos to Toyahvale through Balmorhea, and a hotel was built in the town. In 1925 fifty people were reported living in Balmorhea, and by 1927 that number increased to 500. A bank opened in 1928 and operated until 1933. The population reached 1,220 in the 1930s, and the number of businesses bounced between twenty-five and thirty-three. A gradual decline began after World War II . Throughout the 1950s and most of the 1960s the population was around 600, and the number of businesses declined to nineteen. In 1961 the town was incorporated. In 1968 Balmorhea had a population of 1,009 and thirty businesses. By 1988 it had four businesses and a population of 528. The 1990 United States census set the population of Balmorhea at 765. In 2000 the population dropped to 527. By 2020 that number had fallen to 408. The community had a mayor and city council, several churches, a public library, and local education was operated under the Balmorhea Independent School District. A number of businesses catered to tourism as well as trucking. Balmorhea State Park is located at San Solomon Springs.

MISSION MARY FROM 1895 TO 1935, FATHER NICHOLAS BROCARDUS EIKEN SERVED SEVERAL MISSION STATIONS IN THIS REGION, INCLUDING MISSION MARY, ESTABLISHED BY 1902 IN THE CALERA COMMUNITY. THE ORIGINAL ADOBE AND RUBBLE SANCTUARY WAS BUILT IN 1925 AND FEATURED PILLARS, WHICH WERE REMOVED WHEN THE BUILDING WAS PLASTERED IN THE 1940s. THE RECTANGULAR PLAN CHURCH FEATURES A BELL TOWER AND A LOW PITCH ROOF WITH EXPOSED RAFTER TAILS. TODAY, MOST OF THE AREA’S SMALL MISSIONS HAVE DISAPPEARED, AS HAS CALERA. MISSION MARY STANDS AS A MONUMENT TO AREA SETTLEMENTS AND TO THE CHURCHES AND THE RESIDENTS THEY SERVED. RECORDED TEXAS HISTORIC LANDMARK – 2010

In early days the Indian trail through these mountains followed the gorge below known as Limpia Canyon. To avoid the floods travelers over the San Antonio - El Paso Road, emigrants, U.S. troops and supply trains, and the mail chose this higher pass famed for its wealth of wild roses. Erected by the State of Texas 1956.