Del Rio, Texas map
29.36° N · 100.90° W · Val Verde County seat · elev. ~950 ft · Central Time
Del Rio grew around San Felipe Springs, a group of large artesian springs that feed San Felipe Creek and run year-round into the Rio Grande. The springs are the reason there is a town here at all: for 150 miles in either direction along the river there is no other reliable surface water of that size.
Centered on downtown Del Rio. Zoom out two steps to see Lake Amistad to the northwest and Ciudad Acuña across the Rio Grande.
Where Del Rio is in Texas
Del Rio sits on the Rio Grande at the southwestern corner of the Edwards Plateau, where the limestone hill country runs out into the brush country of the border. It is about 155 road miles west of San Antonio on US-90 and 56 miles northwest of Eagle Pass on US-277. Nothing larger stands between Del Rio and Alpine, 215 miles west along US-90 — that stretch through Comstock, Langtry and Sanderson is one of the emptiest highway corridors in the state.
Val Verde County covers 3,233 square miles, larger than Delaware and Rhode Island together, and Del Rio is its only incorporated city. The county was cut out of Crockett, Kinney and Pecos counties in 1885 and named for the Civil War battle of Val Verde. Edwards County lies east, Terrell County northwest, and Mexico is across the river to the south and west.
The springs, the lake and the two crossings
San Felipe Springs discharge into San Felipe Creek, which runs southeast through the middle of town past the golf course and Moore Park before reaching the Rio Grande. Irrigation canals dug from the creek in 1868 laid out the first farms, and the settlement was called San Felipe Del Rio until the name was shortened in the 1880s.
Twelve miles northwest of town, Amistad Dam holds back Lake Amistad, a reservoir on the Rio Grande built jointly by the United States and Mexico and operated through the International Boundary and Water Commission. The lake backs water up three rivers at once — the Rio Grande, the Devils River and the Pecos — and the surrounding shoreline is the Amistad National Recreation Area, run by the National Park Service. The top of the dam carries a road that is itself an international crossing, the Amistad Dam Port of Entry. The second and busier crossing is the Del Rio–Ciudad Acuña International Bridge at the south end of town.
Laughlin Air Force Base lies about six miles east of the city off US-90. It is an Air Education and Training Command pilot training base and the largest employer in the county, which is why Del Rio's population is younger and more transient than most West Texas county seats of the same size.
Highways and rail
- US-90 – east through Brackettville and Uvalde to San Antonio; west through Comstock, Langtry and Sanderson toward Marathon and Alpine.
- US-277 – south to Eagle Pass and the Rio Grande crossings; north to Sonora and on to San Angelo.
- US-377 – runs with US-277 north out of town, splitting off toward Rocksprings and the Hill Country.
- SH-163 – north across the Devils River country to Ozona and I-10.
- Loop 79 – the old highway route through the built-up part of Del Rio.
- Union Pacific Sunset Route – the transcontinental line runs through town; Amtrak's Sunset Limited stops here three times a week in each direction.
Districts, landmarks and outlying places
| Place | What's there |
|---|---|
| Downtown / Main Street | Val Verde County courthouse, the 1880s commercial block, Whitehead Memorial Museum |
| San Felipe | The older neighborhood along San Felipe Creek below the springs |
| Moore Park | City park on the creek, spring-fed swimming |
| Laughlin AFB | Pilot training base 6 miles east on US-90 |
| Amistad Dam | 12 miles northwest; port of entry on the dam crest |
| Comstock | Small community 30 miles west on US-90, near the Pecos River high bridge |
| Langtry | 60 miles west on US-90, Judge Roy Bean's Law West of the Pecos |
| Seminole Canyon | State park west of Comstock with rock art shelters above the Rio Grande |
Distances from Del Rio
| City | Road miles | Route |
|---|---|---|
| Eagle Pass | 56 | US-277 S |
| San Antonio | 155 | US-90 E |
| San Angelo | 165 | US-277 N via Sonora |
| Laredo | 175 | US-277 S / US-83 S |
| Alpine | 215 | US-90 W |
| Austin | 235 | US-90 E / I-35 N |
| Marfa | 240 | US-90 W |
Road miles are approximate driving distances on the route named, not straight-line distances.