Saspamco

Saspamco is a small town in Wilson county Texas it sits on the border between Bexar County and Wilson county about 11 miles north of Elmendorf, Texas. It has a population of about 450 people. Saspamco was named after the San Antonio Sewer Pipe Manfacturing Company which began operations around 1901 using the red clay of the area to manufacture tile products.

History

A post office as opened in 1901 as well as a loading switch with the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway. By 1915 the town boasted a population of 125 people as well as two Churches one Catholic and Baptist. The town saw its heday in the 1930s when the Saspamco plant by the same name could produce 120 tons of sewer piper a day.

In 1917 the State of Texas's special legislature granted funds for the now defunct Saspamco Independent School District to purchase lands in Bexar county to expand its school system.

By the 1960 most of the business in Saspamco closed although the pipe company continued operations for a number of years later. Clay pipe was on the decline as steel pipe and eventually PVC pipe greatly reduced the demand for the heavry and less reliable clay pipe manfactured in the town.

In the mid 1980 Tyson Foods opened a large poultry hatchery though this was only open for about 10 year before the facility was relocated outside the area.

For a number of year in the late 1960s until the early 1980 the quarry left from the brick manufacturing was used as a landfill by the private owner who use to charge nominal fees for gargage companies to dump their waste. In the 1980 the then TNRCC (now called the TCEQ)closed the facility as a landfill because there was no landfill permit as well at here not being adaquate drainage facilties. During the era the area saw an explosion of rodents as well as the rattle snake population. Since this time these populations have returned to normal levels.

Geography

Soil composition primarily Sandy Loam as sited by the Snited States Department of Agriculture in its [http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:tPPCTqnjdbgJ:soildatamart.nrcs.usda.gov/Manuscripts/TX493/0/Wilson.pdf+Saspamco+rail&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=20&gl=us Soil Convservation Service]

The latitude of Saspamco is 29.234N. The longitude is -98.295W.

It is in the Central Standard time zone. Elevation is 479 feet.

ZIP Code

78112

Climate

Economy

The economy is largely agricultural based. This area is known for its peanut farming as well as grazing land for cattle.

Attractions

Sister Cities

*Boldville, TX *Nameless, TX *Oatmeal, TX *Chinagrove, TX

References

1. [http://www.floresville.isd.tenet.edu/elementary/fes/wcp/wcp5.html Wilson County Photos]

2. [http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/SS/hls23.html Saspamco Handbook of Texas]

3. [http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?country=US&address=&city=Saspamco&state=TX&zoom=7 Mapquest Map of Saspamco]

4. [http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F2/310/310.F2d.764.19364.html Judgement Against SASPAMCO Pipe Company]

5. [http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=29.23416&lon=-98.29555 Topology Map of Saspamco]

6. [http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/cgi-bin/permitting/waste/msw/mswquery.pl?q_msw_no=809&categ=facils Saspamco Landfill Closed]

7. [http://www.lrl.state.tx.us/legis/specialSessions/specialSessionTopics.cfm?legSessionID=35-1 35th Texas Special Legislature]

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