Comanche County
Comanche, Comanche County, Texas
Marker Inscription
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.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
First settled by five families in 1854 and organized in 1856, Comanche County was named for the Comanche people, whose hunting grounds were being overtaken by settlers. Early years were hard — raids on livestock, farmers kept from their fields, and near-starvation in 1861 relieved only by food from Bell County. Railroads arrived in 1880 and 1890, and an oil boom followed in 1918–1920.
Why it matters
The county's story is the frontier itself in miniature: the dispossession of the Comanche, the struggle of early settlers, and the railroads and oil that finally tied the region into the wider nation.
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Indian Raid in Comanche
Comanche, TX
In May 1861, under a bright moon, raiders swept through Comanche and made off with nearly all the town's horses — one of the boldest such raids in Texas history, foiled from total surprise only by a braying mule that woke the townsfolk. The citizens spent the night molding bullets, and at dawn Captain James Cunningham led seventeen men and boys with hounds in pursuit. The posse overtook the raiders on Brown's Creek some thirty-six miles away in a close, deadly fight.
Fleming Oak
Comanche, TX
In 1854, when a boy named Martin V. Fleming camped in this grove with his father, he ducked behind this very oak to escape a raiding party riding through the trees. Decades later, as paving crews moved to cut the tree down, the grown "Uncle Mart" faced them off with his gun and saved it. The Fleming Oak still stands as a living witness to Comanche County's frontier days.
George Washington Gentry
Comanche, TX
A member of Stephen F. Austin's colony, George Washington Gentry came to Texas in 1835 and settled in what became Washington County, working as a farmer and surveyor. He took part in the Texas Revolution, fought in several skirmishes with Native peoples, and helped defend San Antonio during the 1842 Mexican invasions led by Vasquez and Woll before later moving to Comanche County.
Site of Indian Creek Community
Comanche vicinity, TX
Founded in 1851 by John A. McGuire, Indian Creek was among the first settlements in Comanche County, and its most vital structure was a double-walled stockade called "Double Pens"—a fortified storehouse where women and children sheltered during Indian raids while the men were away. As the frontier quieted, the refuge gave way to civic life: a school in 1876, the Indian Creek Methodist Church in 1880 with its famous two-week summer camp meetings, and a cemetery whose first burial came that same year. Services ended in 1958, leaving the community to memory.