Crockett County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 3,098. The county seat is Ozona. The county was founded in 1875 and later organized in 1891. It is named in honor of Davy Crockett, the frontiersman who died at the Battle of the Alamo.
History
Prehistoric people lived in Gobbler Shelter, located on a small tributary canyon of Live Oak Creek. The earliest known Native American tribes were the Tonkawa, Lipan Apache, and Comanche.
In 1590, Spanish explorer Gaspar Castaño de Sosa led a mining expedition of 170 who passed through the western section of Crockett County to reach the Pecos River. On May 22, 1684, Juan Domínguez de Mendoza and his expedition crossed the Pecos River and camped at San Pantaleón.
John Coffee Hays's 1849 expedition charted waterholes for transporting people and freight., and three years later, U.S. Army Colonel Joseph K. Mansfield recommended establishing a new post on Live Oak Creek to protect travelers. In 1866, the Texas legislature provided three battalions of Texas Rangers to protect settlers in the area. Camp Melvin was established in 1868.
On January 12, 1875, Crockett County, named for Davy Crockett, was formed from Bexar County.
In 1925, the first producing oil well within the world, on L. P. Powell's ranch in north central Crockett County, by Chester R. Bunker's World Oil Company. Ozona erected a statue of Davy Crockett in the town square in 1938 and opened the Crockett County Museum the following year. In 1958, it was moved to its current location on the town square.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , virtually all of which is land.
Major highways
- 20px Interstate 10
- 25px U.S. Highway 190
- 20px State Highway 137
- 20px State Highway 163
- 20px State Highway 349
Adjacent counties
- Upton County (north)
- Reagan County (north)
- Irion County (northeast)
- Schleicher County (east)
- Sutton County (east)
- Val Verde County (south)
- Terrell County (south)
- Pecos County (west)
- Crane County (northwest)
Crockett County is among the few counties in the United States to border as many as nine counties.