Val Verde County

Val Verde County was organized from Crockett, Kinney, and Pecos counties in 1885. Its name, Spanish for "green valley," came from a Civil War battle. Del Rio became the county seat. Also, in the 1885 election, Roy Bean of Langtry was elected justice of the peace. The county is a plateau cut by many arroyos and canyons, giving deep relief to the topography. The Pecos flows into the Rio Grande in southwestern Val Verde County, and the Devils flows into Amistad Reservoir on the dammed Rio Grande above Del Rio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 47,586.