Acala, Texas: History and Population Trends
Published: 1952
Updated: September 20, 2023
Acala is on the Rio Grande and State Highway 20, thirty-four miles northwest of Sierra Blanca near the Southern Pacific tracks in southwestern Hudspeth County. It was founded before 1925, when a post office was established with Mrs. Julia A. Vaughn as postmistress. In 1927 Acala had a population of fifty; two years later that figure had doubled. By the mid-1930s, however, the population had fallen to an estimated ten. It increased gradually over the next three decades, from an estimated seventy-five in the late 1930s to ninety in the late 1940s and 100 in the late 1950s. Subsequently, however, it fell again; in the late 1960s it was estimated at fifty and in the early 1970s at twenty-five, where it remained in 1990 and 2000. Acala was named for the long-staple cotton of Mexican origin grown in the area; it is the site of numerous canals and wells dug for irrigation.
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The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry.
Martin Donell Kohout, “Acala, TX,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed March 09, 2026, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/acala-tx.
Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
TID:
HNA03
- 1952
- September 20, 2023
