CHRISTOVAL, TEXAS. Christoval, also known as Delong and South Concho, is on Loop 110, U.S. Highway 277, Farm Road 2084, and the South Concho River, twenty miles south of San Angelo in southern Tom Green County. It is supposedly named, in Spanish, for Christopher Columbus Doty, an early settler. A Christoval post office was established in 1889, and by 1901 the local school had forty-six pupils and one teacher. In 1914 Christoval had a population of 200, two general stores, and a newspaper, the Christoval Observer. The Panhandle and Santa Fe Railway ran through town. From that decade through the 1930s 10,000 persons attended the Baptist encampment on the South Concho annually, and mineral waters in Christoval attracted visitors and settlers. In the 1930s the community had a population high of 544 and twenty businesses. State highway maps in 1936 showed two churches, multiple businesses, and scattered dwellings at the townsite. The population dropped to 400 by 1953 and to 216 by 1973. Businesses decreased from eighteen to four, despite the development of the local mohair industry. The population remained at 216 from 1973 to 1990, when the community had three churches, a school, and three business establishments; residents expected further decline resulting from a 1987 rerouting of U.S. Highway 277 to bypass the town. In 2000, however, the population was 422, with twenty-nine businesses. The forests of the town's Pugh Park, in which Mount Susan is located, reflect the original features of the area.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Dallas Morning News, June 16, 1990.
