Bandera County, Texas: History
In 1856, the Texas Legislature established Bandera County from portions of Bexar and Uvalde Counties, and named the county and its seat for Bandera Pass, which uses the Spanish word for flag.
Although the county's earliest evidence of human habitation dates from 8000 to 4000 BC, the county's earliest known ethnology places Lipan Apache and later Comanche settlements in the area during the 17th century. During the early to late 1800s, the county was a target for several Native American raids. Examples of this include a skirmish between migrating Shawnee Indians and Comanches in 1832 at Bandera Pass. Bandera Pass was also the site of the 1841 Battle of Bandera Pass between the Texas Rangers and the Comanche. In July of 1854, Texas Rangers engaged in a small battle with Seminole Indians near Bandera. Also, in 1862, settlers skirmished with Comanches near Medina, killing six warriors. In 1866, Lipan Apaches killed Thomas Click three miles west of Bandera. The last Indian raid in the county occurred on December 29, 1876, when Jack Phillips was killed by Indians, probably Lipan Apaches or Kickapoos, at Seco Pass in the southwestern part of the county, marking the end of the American Indian Wars in the county.
In 1841, John Coffee Hays and a troop of Texas Rangers defeated a large party of Comanche warriors, thereby pacifying the region in what became known as the Battle of Bandera Pass.
In 1853, John James and Charles S. DeMontel conducted a land survey and planned the town of Bandera. The town was then settled by A. M. Milstead, Thomas Odem, P.D. Saner, and their families along the river. The families began making cypress shingles. James, DeMontel and Company built a horse-powered sawmill and opened a store within a year. In the wake of successive national insurrections crushed by Prussia, Austria and Russia, 16 Polish families arrived in Bandera in 1855 and begin working in James and DeMontel's sawmill. Around this time August Klappenbach opens the first store and post office in Bandera. In 1856, the Texas Legislature established and formally organized Bandera County from portions of Bexar County.
By 1860, the population grew to 399, which included 12 slaves. By 1880, the ranching of sheep and Angora goats become more profitable than farming.
In 1920, Cora and Ed Buck launched Bandera's tourist industry by taking boarders at their ranch, and by 1933, Frontier Times Museum opened to the public.
During the last 30 years of the 20th century, with an estimated 80% of its land dedicated to farming and ranching industries, the county government facilitated three major actions to preserve its natural heritage: the Lost Maples State Natural Area which opened to the public in 1979, the Hill Country State Natural Area which opened to the public in 1984, and the Nature Conservancy purchased 1,400 acres (5.7 km2) of the Love Creek Ranch from Baxter and Carol Adams to create the Love Creek Preserve in 2000.