Organization of Fisher County

The Handbook of Texas says the 1880 census found 136 people in the county, only four of whom listed farming as their occupation, and 24,164 cattle. A colony of Swedes from Travis and Williamson counties settled in the northeast near present McCaulley. The Fisher townsite, now North Roby, was registered on November 11, 1885, and Roby on April 16, 1886. Many questioned the legality of Roby's victory, the Handbook adds, and one voter, a Mr. Bill Purp, was later found to be a dog whose owner lived near Roby.

What the plaque says

When the Texas Legislature created Fisher County in 1876, there were no permanent settlements in the area. As a result, the county was linked with Shackelford and Nolan Counties for judicial purposes. By 1885, enough settlers had moved into the area to warrant official organization of the county. Part of this organization was the selection of a county seat, a matter that caused much debate. In 1885 two townsites were laid out and proposed as county seats. Businessman E. D. Strang, a native of Wisconsin, organized and promoted the town of Fisher, while two former Mississippi plantation owners, D. C. and M. L. Roby, inherited land on which they laid out the townsite of Roby. Fierce competition began between the adherents of each site. When the proponents of Roby felt they had enough votes, they presented a petition for election to the Nolan County Commissioners Court. Although adherents of Fisher contested the petition as faulty, they could not prove their accusations as correct. An election held in April 1886 determined Roby to be the county seat. As newly elected officials attended to business and construction began on a courthouse, tempers settled, and the organization of Fisher County was complete. (1983)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Pioneer Museum — 19 mi
  Nolan County's settlement story in a dozen rooms of Judge R. A. Ragland's 1906 house in Sweetwater, a town that started as a dugout store for buffalo hunters and a post office called Blue Goose.
• National WASP WWII Museum — 20 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

• Fisher County — steps away
• Roby — steps away
• Roby Cemetery — 1.2 mi
• Royston Townsite — 6.5 mi