Comanche County

The 1860 census counted 709 people in Comanche County, sixty-one of them enslaved. Twenty-five residents held them, and only two held as many as eight. By 1880 the county had 79 Black residents among 8,608 people. In July 1886 a Black man was lynched at De Leon, which the Handbook says was for the killing of a white woman, Sally Stephens, and names as Tom McNeal. A sign warning Black people to leave went up, and vigilantes then drove out the county's Black residents. The Handbook says they have not returned in any number; the 1970 census found two.

What the plaque says

Comanche County First settled in 1854 by five families, the county, created and organized 1856, was named for Comanche Indians, Lords of Texas frontier, who were losing hunting grounds to settlers. First county seat was Cora. Comanche has been county seat since July 18, 1859. Indians harassed settlers, stealing cattle and horses, and keeping farmers out of fields. Food from neighboring Bell County kept people here from starvation in 1861. By 1879 a stage line crossed county; the Texas Central Railroad came through in 1880; Fort Worth & Rio Grande Railroad in 1890. An oil boom occurred in 1918-1920. Agriculture has long been major industry (1966) 1936 Text: Created January 25, 1856. Organized May 17, 1856. Named for the Comanche Indians, nomads of the Plains; successful hunters, superb horsemen, and courageous warriors; the terror of Texas frontier settlers, who dispossessed them of their hunting grounds. County Seat Troy (changed to Cora), 1856; Comanche, since July 18, 1859.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Dublin Bottling Works — 20 mi
  The Erath County plant that bottled Dr Pepper with cane sugar from 1891 until a 2012 settlement ended its Dr Pepper license, and that still makes its own sodas the same way.
• Lake Brownwood State Park — 25 mi
  A CCC park on a reservoir that filled in a single flood before its dam was done, with stone cabins, a hilltop dance pavilion and a grand staircase climbed by dancers arriving by boat.

More markers nearby

• Hardin, John Wesley — 0.3 mi
• Mollie E. Moore — 0.3 mi
• The Comanche Chief — 0.5 mi
• Indian Raid in Comanche — 0.5 mi