Alvarado is the oldest city in Johnson County.  In February of 1849, a claim was staked out near Old Indian Trail by William Balch.  He and his family left before spring and came back in 1851, just two years later.  Balch and Sigler began to lay out half-acre lots around the town.  Shortly after this, the town voted in its first sheriff, A Onstoott.  He was the one that name the town Alvarado, after a battle he fought in the Mexican War at Vera Cruz, Mexico.

 

Over 100 families had settled in Alvarado by 1854.  At this point, the main focus of the town became a building that would be two stories high for an elementary school and the Masonic lodge.  Alvarado College was also there and was operated by John C Collier.  The town built dozens of businesses, four churches and hundreds of residences.  The railroad arrived in 1881 and, within a few short years, there were over 1,000 residents in the area.  In 1885, the city was incorporated and, at that time, the city had a hotel, an opera house, two schools, many gins, a bank and a newspaper named the Alvarado Bulletin.  After the opening of the second bank in 1890, the population had exploded to over 2,000, with over 25 businesses in the area.  By 1988, the population had grown to 4,129.  In the late 1990s, the population began to grow again and had reached 17,444 by the 2000 census.