Irion County

The Handbook of Texas says Tonkawa people once lived here, and that Spanish expeditions crossed the area in 1650 and 1684. From 1858 to 1861 coaches of the San Antonio-San Diego and Butterfield lines crossed the region. Ranching began in the late 1870s; in 1880 Billy Childress founded the 7D Ranch with longhorns from Atascosa County, and W. H. White planted the first cotton in 1886. By 1890 the county had 118 farms and ranches, almost 64,000 cattle and 870 people. The outlaw Tom Ketchum once kept a hideout at the mountain now named for him.

What the plaque says

Created March 7, 1889. Organized April 16, 1889. Named in honor of Robert Anderson Irion, 1806-1860. Came to Texas in 1833 and located at Nacogdoches. Member of the first Texas Congress. Secretary of State in the cabinet of President Houston, 1837-1838. Sherwood, the county seat.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• San Angelo State Park — 22 mi
  A 7,677-acre park around O.C. Fisher Reservoir on the edge of San Angelo, where four Texas landscapes meet and the state's official longhorn herd grazes beside a bison paddock.
• Concho River Walk — 25 mi
  Four miles of lit trails along the North Concho through downtown San Angelo, rebuilt after voters taxed themselves in 2004, with gardens, sculpture, a river stage and stocked trout.
• Miss Hattie's Bordello Museum — 25 mi
  The upstairs rooms on Concho Avenue where a brothel ran from 1902 until the Texas Rangers closed it in 1952, shown on short guided tours with most of the furnishings original.
• Fort Concho National Historic Landmark — 25 mi
  The stone post at the forks of the Concho, headquarters of the Tenth Cavalry from 1875 to 1882, saved by a woman with a museum and now a city-run landmark of 23 original buildings.

More markers nearby

• Sherwood Courthouse — 1.1 mi
• Dove Creek Battle — 1.8 mi
• Knickerbocker Schools — 11 mi
• Knickerbocker — 11 mi