Knippa, TX

Knippa is a Uvalde County census-designated place on U.S. 90 between Sabinal and Uvalde, in the semi-arid Frio River country of South Texas. The settlement was first known as Chatfield. George Knippa moved his family to the railroad siding in the 1880s after the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway extended its line from San Antonio toward Uvalde. When the community applied for a post office, another Chatfield already existed in West Texas, so the name changed to Knippa in honor of George Knippa.

The place remains tied to the highway and to the Knippa Independent School District, with Farm to Market Road 1049 providing another route through the surrounding ranch and farm country. Knippa is part of the Uvalde micropolitan area, but its story is more local: a railroad siding became a named community, then a school-centered settlement along Route 90. The school, highway, and family names keep that transition visible in everyday town life. The 2020 census counted 606 residents, down from 689 in 2010.