Jack County

Before settlement this was borderland between the Caddo to the east and the Comanches (Numunuu) to the west. Settlers came mostly from Alabama, North Carolina, Arkansas, Missouri and Kentucky, and by 1856 the first settlement, Keechi, stood here. Jack is the only county of that name in the United States. Its first newspaper, Harris A. Hamner's Whiteman of 1860, backed the Southern cause, though only thirty-seven enslaved people lived in the county. Raids after the troops withdrew cut the population from 1,000 in 1860 to 694 in 1870, but it reached 6,629 by 1880 and 9,740 by 1890.

What the plaque says

Created 1856. Organized 1857. Named for W. H. and P. C. Jack, brothers and patriots in the Texas Revolution. Butterfield Overland Mail, 1858-1861, had 3 stage stops in county. In 1861, Jack County voted against secession, 76-14. Most men fought in frontier units. Some were Confederates; others joined Federal army. Fort Richardson was established in 1867. In 1871 near Jacksboro, Kiowas massacred Warren Wagon Train teamsters. General of the Army W. T. Sherman, then at the fort, sent General Ranald S. MacKenzie, commander, to arrest the Indians. Chiefs Satanta and Big Tree were convicted in first non-tribal trials of Plains Indians in North Texas. By 1875 MacKenzie's raiders had opened West Texas for settlement. A Corn Club founded in Jacksboro by County Agent Tom Marks on September 8, 1907, was the forerunner of the International 4-H Clubs. Fort Richardson, with 7 original buildings standing, is now a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark. Museum is open the year round. Other attractions include circular high school building and old limestones on square, Jacksboro. Recreation centers about lakes, parks, campgrounds. Economy is based on agriculture, oil, cattle, sheep, and goats. (1965)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Richardson State Park and Historic Site — 0.7 mi
  The northernmost post of the Texas frontier line, outside Jacksboro, where a stone hospital and six other buildings stand from 1867 and a later Guard unit became the Lost Battalion.
• Old Post Office Museum and Art Center — 26 mi
  Graham's 1936 Art Moderne post office, with a New Deal mural by Alexandre Hogue inside, now the free museum of Young County in the town where the Texas cattle raisers first organized.

More markers nearby

• First Baptist Church of Jacksboro — steps away
• Butterfield Stage Line — 0.3 mi
• Mobilization Site of Lost Battalion — 0.9 mi
• Wizard Wells — 11 mi