Comanche County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in Central Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 13,594. The county seat is Comanche. The county was founded in 1856 and is named for the Comanche Native American tribe.
History
Among the first inhabitants of present-day Comanche County were the Comanche Indian tribe.
In 1854, Jesse M. Mercer and others organized a colony near the future settlement of Newburg. in Comanche County on lands earlier granted by Mexico to Stephen F. Austin and Samuel May Williams. Frank M. Collier built the first log house in the county.
In 1856, the Texas legislature formed Comanche County from Coryell and Bosque counties. Cora community, named after Cora Beeman of Bell County, was designated as the county seat. Comanche became the county seat in 1859. As of 1860, the county population was 709 persons, including 61 slaves. began publication in 1873. Editor Joe Hill's brother, Robert T. Hill, worked on the newspaper while developing his esteemed career as a geologist.
In 1874, John Wesley Hardin and his gang celebrated his 21st birthday in Brown and Comanche counties. Deputy Charles Webb drew his gun, provoking a gunfight that ended Webb's life. A lynch mob was formed, but Hardin and his family were put into protective custody. The mob broke into the jail and hanged his brother Joe and two cousins. Hardin fled. He was arrested in 1877 by Texas Rangers and a local authority on a train in Pensacola, Florida, while traveling under the alias James W. Swain. He was tried in Comanche for the murder of Deputy Sheriff Charles Webb, and sentenced to 25 years in Huntsville Prison.
Known for its fertile soil, Comanche County was a hotbed of political populism in the latter years of the 19th century.
Expulsion of the African Americans
In 1886, "one of those too horribly frequent crimes was committed by an African American. He was quickly caught and was punished in accordance with the rules of the unwritten law." Following this lynching, at a meeting of the white citizens "it was resolved to give every negro in the county one week's notice to leave the county, and committees of men from different sections of the county were appointed to carry out the will of the white people."
Comanche County was a sundown town, and in 1886 the communities of Bibb, De Leon, Fleming, Sipe Springs, and Whittville had signage reading, "No negroes allowed in this town." According to a 1953 study, the county took pride in and publicized its all-white population.
Arrival of the railroad
The Texas Central Railroad began service in Comanche County in 1885 and began carrying cattle and cotton to market. The peak year for the Comanche County oil boom was 1920.
From 1968 to 1974, Comanche County native Jim Reese served as the mayor of Odessa, Texas. He launched unsuccessful congressional campaigns in the 1976 general election against the Democrat George H. Mahon and in the 1978 Republican primary against George W. Bush. During the 1970s, the oil industrialist Bill Noël of Odessa purchased orchards in Comanche County.
As of 1982, Comanche produced more than of peanuts, ranking second in Texas. The county is located some 60 miles north of the geographic center of Texas.
The county is home to Proctor Lake.
Adjacent counties
- Erath County (northeast)
- Hamilton County (southeast)
- Mills County (south)
- Brown County (southwest)
- Eastland County (northwest)