Ozona's Water System

The Handbook of Texas's county entry says the July 7, 1891 election, held at Couch Well, or Eureka, among three contending communities, was inconclusive, and that Ozona became the seat by year's end as the others failed to develop. Water from the deep wells at Water Works Hill and available land drew settlers. A 1926 fire destroyed a block of business buildings. In 1986 Ozona had two banks, the county library, a radio station and the 1936 community center, and its population was 3,181 in 1990 and 3,436 in 2000.

What the plaque says

This site was selected for the Crockett County seat in 1891 because of a producing water well (200' NW). Joe Moss, who drilled for water throughout the area, dug the well for E. M. Powell (1847-1925), railroad surveyor, financier, and land developer. Powell laid out the town, donated the water well, windmill, storage cistern, and land for public buildings. Immediately the commissioners court designated the well site as county property. Residents hauled water home by hand, on horseback, and by wagon. Later a wagon delivered barrels of water door-to-door. As a result of Ozona's rapid growth by 1900, Judge Charles E. Davidson organized locally-owned "Ozona Improvement Company." The business drilled more wells and laid a pipeline in town. This hilltop, a familiar site of windmills and sprawling storage tanks, was called "Waterworks Hill." In a few years power equipment was added to provide electricity and ice. A municipal water district was formed in the late 1930s under the guidance of Joe North. Ozona has not suffered from a decrease in its water supply during times of drought. Its water system utilizes the vast underground limestone formations in which moisture is stored. (1979)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Crockett County Museum — 0.2 mi
  Three floors of ranch-country history in Ozona, the only town in Crockett County, housed in a burned-out 1926 church rebuilt as a hospital and courthouse annex.
• Caverns of Sonora — 25 mi
  A show cave on a Sutton County ranch, opened in 1960 by cavers who wanted to stop the damage, and dense with helictites that grow sideways in every direction.

More markers nearby

• Ozona's First Water Well — 0.2 mi
• Crockett County — 0.3 mi
• Fort Lancaster, C.S.A. — 0.3 mi
• Ozona Stockman, The — 0.3 mi