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 mi. SE) 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. mi., 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 & 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)
Original Tom Green County
The roadside stories worth pulling over for.
Original Tom Green County is a historical marker in San Angelo, Tom Green County, dedicated in 1972. It is one of 43 historical markers documented in Tom Green County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 130 historic sites cataloged across the county.
The site sits at 31.4622, -100.4392 near San Angelo. The nearest cataloged historic site is Green, Tom, Confederate General (historical marker), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Tom Green County Courthouse, Tom Green County Jail (Demolished), and Holcomb--Blanton Print Shop (Gone).
This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5451003875. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.
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