Carrizo Springs is the county seat and largest city of Dimmit County, Texas, in the brush country of South Central Texas. The 2020 census counted 4,892 residents, while the county as a whole has about 8,600 people. The city lies on U.S. Highway 83, a major South Texas corridor, roughly between Laredo and Uvalde. The town is the oldest in Dimmit County. It was founded in 1865 by a group of fifteen families from Atascosa County led by Levi English, drawn to the area's natural springs. The name comes from those springs, which Spanish explorers described for the carrizo cane grass that grew around them. Ranching and, later, irrigated farming shaped Carrizo Springs through the twentieth century; the surrounding countryside is part of the Winter Garden region, a celebrated irrigated vegetable and onion-producing district. The early twenty-first century brought a new economic chapter. Development of the Eagle Ford Shale formation, one of the most productive oil and gas plays in the United States, swept through Dimmit County and brought drilling activity, service companies, and a surge of workers to Carrizo Springs, reshaping its growth, housing, and workforce. The city functions as the administrative and commercial center of the county, hosting the courthouse, schools, and services for the surrounding ranch country. Public education is provided by Carrizo Springs Consolidated Independent School District, whose Wildcat campuses serve students across the county. Recreation leans on South Texas traditions: the Chaparral Wildlife Management Area, managed by Texas Parks and Wildlife, offers some of the region's finest hunting for deer, javelina, and dove, and the open brush country supports ranching-related outdoor life. For residents, Carrizo Springs combines energy-sector opportunity with deep-rooted South Texas ranching and farming heritage.