El Indio

El Indio is two miles east of the Rio Grande and seventeen miles southeast of Eagle Pass in southwestern Maverick County. It is probably named for nearby Indio Creek. In the early 1850s William L. Cazneau established his ranch on the northern portion of the Antonio Rivas grant, where the town was later established. By 1880 the Cazneau Ranch had become the Indio Ranch; a post office called Indio was established that year ten miles south of the present site of El Indio. At this time the site was also known as Presidio or Indio Ranch. The post office at Indio, where Charles S. Murphy was postmaster, was discontinued in 1884; that year the community had an estimated thirty residents, weekly mail, and a general store owned by Humphries and Walker.