Welcome to Crockett County History!

Ozona, Texas, whose motto is "The Biggest Little Town in the World," is the only town in Crockett County - 3000 Square Miles of Livestock Territory.  "Out in the West, where the air is pure, the climate agreeable, and the people friendly - The best place on Earth to call Home," according to the Ozona Stockman Newspaper.

The earliest inhabitants of the county were the Indians of the Comanche, Apache, Kiowa, Mescalero and Lipan tribes.  There were great herds of buffalo on the land that furnished food for the Indians.  Caves and 'mounds' have been excavated and human skeletons found of the "Basket-maker" era which science estimates generally as 3000 years ago.

The first white men, on record, that came through the country were Cabeza de Vaca in 1536 and with Coronado in 1541.  The Franciscan Padres were also in the area.  The Chihuahua Trail was surveyed and established in 1848, and was laid out from San Antonio to Del Rio, across the Devil's River, Beaver Lake, to Howard Springs and Horsehead Crossing on the Pecos River, on to Fort Lancaster, after it was built a few years later, and then to Fort Stockton, Fort Davis, El Paso and on to Chihuahua in Old Mexico.  Indian depredations were common and the soldiers at Fort Lancaster and the Texas Rangers were kept busy.

Stage stands were located along this route, one being at Howard Springs, or Howard's Well, and another at Fort Lancaster.  The fare from San Antonio to El Paso, about 700 miles and a thirty day trip, was $100.

Crockett County was named by the Fourteenth Legislature of Texas in 1875, in honor of Colonel David Crockett, who died fighting in the defense of the liberties of Texas at the Alamo, in 1836.  At that time the county was part of a large outlying district known as Bexar County.  This new district embraced parts of Val Verde, Kenny and Edwards Counties, and all of Crockett, Sutton and Schleicher Counties.  A petition for the Organization of Crockett County was presented to County Judge W. K. Jones of Val Verde County and an election was held on July 1, 1891.  It passed and Ozona was chosen as the county seat.  On July 22, 1891, Judge Charles E. Davidson convened the first Commissioners Court under the Live Oak tree which still stands just north of the Baptist Church on the Square.  And the rest, as they say, is History!