San Felipe Springs is a string of springs about two miles long on San Felipe Creek, northeast of downtown Del Rio, where water rises under pressure through a fault in the rock. The Handbook of Texas ranks it the third largest springs in the state. Gaspar Castaño de Sosa stopped here in 1590, and other Spanish travelers followed. A mission was set up in 1808, and the settlement of San Felipe del Rio, the town's first name, began in 1834. Cavalry and stagecoaches watered here through the nineteenth century.
In the 1860s landowners formed the San Felipe Agricultural, Manufacturing and Irrigation Company and dug the dams and ditches that carried the creek to farms and vineyards; the canals still run. The springs are still the main water source for Del Rio and Laughlin Air Force Base. Their average flow from 1889 to 1977 was about 41,000 gallons a minute, and it has risen since Amistad Reservoir filled in 1968, which added recharge and diverted water from springs the lake drowned, among them Goodenough Springs.
The creek runs through the south part of town. The paved Mayor Dora Alcala Hike and Bike Trail follows it, Horseshoe Park and Lions Park have popular swimming holes, and Moore Park has a public pool nearby. A state historical marker stands at the springs.
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