ATASCOSA, TEXAS. Atascosa is off Interstate Highway 35 fourteen miles southwest of downtown San Antonio in southwestern Bexar County. The community, whose name in Spanish means "boggy," was settled just after the Civil War. A post office opened in 1872, and by 1885 the community had a Baptist church, a district school, a general store, a saloon, two blacksmiths, and a population of 180. A pottery and coal mine operated there around 1900. In the mid-1930s Atascosa had a school, a church, a lodge, several stores, and a population of 300. The population has remained steady since that time, and in the early 1990s the town still reported four businesses. By 2000 the population remained at 300 with forty-seven businesses reported.
