Mitchell County

Spanish expeditions crossed the region in the seventeenth century, the Handbook of Texas says, though none centered on present Mitchell County: Fr. Juan de Salas went to the Jumanos in 1629 and 1632, Hernán Martín and Diego del Castillo looked for them in 1650, and Diego de Guadalajara came seeking wealth in 1654. Penateka Comanches (Numunuu) settled the region in 1780 and controlled it until 1875. The 1880 census counted 112 residents. When the county organized in 1881, J. R. Dobbins became its first county judge and A. W. Dunn its first treasurer.

What the plaque says

Settled after Indians left Texas in 1875. One of 128 counties created (Aug. 21, 1876) from Bexar Territory covering West Texas to the Panhandle and El Paso. Named for Mitchell brothers, Asa and Eli, Texas War for Independence veterans. Organized Jan. 10, 1881, when the railroad came, making county seat Colorado City West Texas' "Mother City" and first boom town. Oil, sheep and cattle ranching center. Historic sites include Comanche Indian Village; Seven Wells, last buffalo watering hole. Annual events: Colorado City Frontier Roundup and Tumbleweed Festival. (1965)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Heart of West Texas Museum — 0.3 mi
  Colorado City's museum in a restored downtown house, from a mammoth dug up at Lake Champion in 2001 to an Ice Age bison and the wartime telegrams sent to a local family.
• Lake Colorado City State Park — 5.8 mi
  A mesquite-plains park on a lake built in 1949 to cool a power plant, southwest of Colorado City, where controlled burns are bringing back the grassland and 300 bird species pass through.
• Scurry County Museum — 20 mi
  Snyder's county museum on the Western Texas College campus, with the rifle used to shoot the white buffalo, an 1878 chuckwagon and the millionth barrel of the Canyon Reef oil boom.
• National WASP WWII Museum — 24 mi
  Hangar 1 at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, where the women of the WASP trained to fly every aircraft in the Army's arsenal in World War II, then waited thirty-three years to be called veterans.

More markers nearby

• The Founding of Colorado City — steps away
• Texas & Pacific Railway — 0.2 mi
• Buffalo Trails — 0.3 mi
• Col-Tex Refinery — 0.4 mi