Biohazard Cleanup Near North Acala Acala, TX

Acala is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Hudspeth County, Texas, often described as a desert ghost town on the Rio Grande.

Acala was named for Acala cotton, a long-staple cotton of Mexican origin that was grown in the area.

The settlement grew around a cotton gin built by farmer W. T. Young, who cleared desert land near the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks with mules and successfully planted the Mexican Acala cottonseed that gave the town its name.

Acala's post office was established in 1925, with Mrs. Julia A. Vaughn as its first postmistress.

Acala's population doubled from 50 people in 1927 to 100 in 1929, then crashed to an estimated ten residents during the Great Depression before climbing back to 100 again in the late 1950s.

Farm mechanization emptied Acala out over the following decades, and by the early 1970s only about 25 people remained.

The 2020 census counted just 11 people in Acala, the first time the community was ever listed as a census-designated place.

Acala sits on State Highway 20 along the Rio Grande, about 34 miles northwest of Sierra Blanca and 54 miles southeast of El Paso, in an area laced with irrigation canals and wells.