ISLITAS, TEXAS. Islitas, a mile off Farm Road 1472 and thirteen miles northwest of Laredo in southwestern Webb County, became a station and coal shipping point on the Rio Grande and Pecos Valley Railroad in 1882. In 1907 Islitas had a one-teacher school with thirty-six pupils. That same year postmaster R. M. Johnson opened a post office, which operated until 1924. In 1910 the community's population was 200, and in 1914 Islitas had its peak reported population of 300, with a general store and five livestock feeders. After this the local mines declined, and in 1920 the last census report for the community showed 100 people. Islitas in 1989 was nothing more than a few old houses located on private property.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Michael F. Black, ed., Mirando City: A New Town in a New Oil Field (Laredo: Laredo Publishing, 1972).
