TOM GREEN COUNTY, TEXAS

31° 24' 36" N, 100° 27' 36" W (31.41, -100.46)
Population: 118,386 Est. (2016) 110,224 (2010)
Total area: 1,541 square miles (3,990 km2)
1,522 square miles (3,940 km2) land
19 square miles (49 km2) water

Tom Green County Topics

History

Town List

Vintage Maps

Contiguous Counties:
Coke County (N) Runnels County (NE) Concho County (E) Schleicher County (S) Irion County (W) Reagan County (W) Sterling County (NW) Menard County (SE)

Tom Green County History

Historical Marker (on courthouse grounds):

ORIGINAL TOM GREEN COUNTY
On transcontinental trail of California Gold Rush. Until 1846 a part of Bexar land district, Republic of Texas. Private tracts were surveyed as early as 1847. German Emigration Company colony (90 miles southeast) had grants here, but in 1840s found Indians blocking settlement. Butterfield Overland Mail managers lived at stands in area, 1858-61. R. F. Tankersley family established a permanent home in 1864 in future Tom Green County. By 1874 there were five settlements here, including Bismarck farm, a colony of 15 German immigrants. The county (12,756 sq. mil., 10-1/2 times as large as state of Rhode Island) was created in 1874 and named for heroic Gen. Green (1814-64), a state official and gallant Texas soldier. After a decade of progress, the original Tom Green County began losing outlying areas. Midland County -- halfway between Fort Worth and El Paso on newly opened Texas and Pacific railway -- was created in 1885. Settlers remote from San Angelo petitioned for new counties in 1887, and the Texas Legislature created Crane, Loving, Upton, Ward and Winkler. Coke and Irion Counties were cut out of Tom Green in 1889. Ector and Sterling were created in 1891. Last diversions -- Glasscock (1893) and Reagan (1903) -- gave Tom Green its present size. It remains influential in the region.
1972

Tom Green County Courthouse

Tom Green County Courthouse
Photos courtesy Terry Jeanson

Tom Green County Town List

Cities, Towns & Ghost Towns: History, attractions, landmarks, architecture, monuments, museums, cemeteries, bridges, parks, vintage & contemporary images, area destinations, hotels, and forum.

County Seat - San Angelo
Book Hotel Here - San Angelo Hotels

Ben Ficklin ghost town - First Tom Green County Seat

Carlsbad

Christoval

Grape Creek

Harriet

Knickerbocker ghost town

Lone Wolf ghost town

Mereta

Orient

San Angelo County Seat

Scherz ghost town

Tankersley

Vancourt

Veribest

Wall

Water Valley

Tom Green County Vintage Maps

Tom Green County 1907 postal map
From Texas state map #2090
Courtesy Texas General Land Office

Tom Green County 1920s map
From Texas state map #10749
Courtesy Texas General Land Office

Tom Green County 1940s map
From Texas state map #4335
Courtesy Texas General Land Office

More Texas Counties

For nearby towns & counties
See Texas Panhandle | West Texas Towns
More Texas Regions

TEXAS TOWN LIST
Alphabetical Listing of over 3300 Cities, Towns & Ghost Towns:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M
N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

Texas Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories, landmarks and vintage/historic photos, please contact us.