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History
in a Pecan Shell
The town dates to 1895 when W. B. Silliman and two partners surveyed
former railroad land and named the future town Eldorado after the
mythical city. To get residents, Silliman offered free town lots
to residents of nearby Verland. Enough people took advantage of
the offer that the post office moved there (still in 1895) and the
next year the town had a population of 100. Eldorado was made county
seat when Schleicher County was organized in 1901.
Schleicher
County held land rushes between 1901 and 1905, and Eldorado benefited
from the new county residents. A proposed railroad link to San
Angelo never materialized but Eldorado thrived nonetheless.
By 1914 the population was 500 with all essential businesses and
even a newspaper.
A vote to incorporate in 1925 was revoked in 1927 when increased
taxes and a city ordnance to keep livestock penned was met with
scorn. A second petition resulted in re-incorporation in March of
1929. A railroad link between Sonora
and to San
Angelo became a reality in 1930 (The Kansas City, Mexico and
Orient) passing through (and stopping at) Eldorado.
During WWII
West Texas Woolen Mills was established - making untold thousands
of blankets for the military. The building and looms still stand.
The population reached a high of 2,790 in the mid-1960s, but declined
to only 1,400 ten years later. The railroad pulled up tracks in
1976.
See Schleicher
County Courthouse
See Schleicher
County Jail
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