Region: Hill Country
This community developed with the building of the Orient Railroad in 1911;
served as a marketing and retail center for surrounding cattle and sheep
ranches. The University of Texas owned much of the arid grazing land around Big
Lake where, in 1923, a large oil pool was discovered with the Santa Rita No. 1
well. The discovery made the University of Texas one of the richest schools in
the nation. Today, Big Lake is the seat of Reagan County. The name was derived
from a large depression to the south that forms a broad, shallow lake during
rare wet seasons.