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History · El Indio

El Indio’s post office opened in 1939

Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1940 on, and the census since 2000.

1939first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From El Indio’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How El Indio began

When was El Indio founded?

1939

The El Indio post office opened in 1939, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 263 in 20002020 census: 18287 years
Founding year: the first El Indio post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about El Indio’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start El Indio’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how El Indio’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewWoman washing her clothes on her farm at: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

El Indio, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of El Indio yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

El Indio (, Spanish pronunciation: [eˈlindjo]) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Maverick County, Texas, United States. As of the 2020 census, El Indio had a population of 182.

Its first post office opened in 1939. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 190 to 182 (-4%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

El Indio, 1939 to 1940

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 20th century
  2. 1939In the archiveWoman washing her clothes on her farm at
  3. 1939Post officeThe El Indio post office opens
  4. 1940On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

El Indio, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s2 items
Woman washing her clothes on her farm at1939Woman washing her clothes on her farm atWoman washing her clothes on her farm at1939Woman washing her clothes on her farm at
1940s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today1 recent
TXMap-doton-ElIndio2004TXMap-doton-ElIndio
On the map

El Indio on the map, 1940 to 1983

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of El Indio. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

El Indio on the 1940 USGS mapEl Indio on the 1983 USGS map1940Eagle Pass sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of El Indio.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Woman washing her clothes on her farm at
Retake this viewWoman washing her clothes on her farm at, 1939

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on El Indio’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

El Indio, census by census

010020020002020Peak: 263

Between 182 and 263 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on El Indio’s Wikipedia page.

Questions about El Indio’s history

What year was El Indio founded?

The El Indio post office opened in 1939, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (3), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.