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July / August 2010
Volume 22, Number 4

History of a Texas County

The Legends Behind Bandera County’s Naming

Bandera County is 25 miles northwest of San Antonio in the Edwards Plateau region of southwest Texas. It is bordered by Kerr and Kendall counties on the north, Bexar County on the east, Medina and Uvalde counties on the south, and Real County on the west.Bandera County comprises an area of 793 square miles. The region has been the site of human habitation for several thousand years. Archeological artifacts suggest that the earliest human inhabitants arrived around 6,000 to 10,000 years ago and settled in rockshelters. Lipan Apaches and, later, Comanches subsequently drifted into the area.

The first Europeans to set foot in what is now Bandera County were the Spanish, who probably explored the region in the early eighteenth century. Bandera is Spanish for “flag,” and there are a number of colorful accounts as to how the county was named. One has it that a Spanish general named Bandera led a punitive expedition in the area against the Apaches after the Indians raided San Antonio de Béxar. Another relates that after pursuing the Indians to Bandera Pass, the Spanish left a flag or flags to warn them against future raids. And a third legend claims that in 1752 (or 1732) a council was held between Spanish and Indian leaders, during which the Spanish pledged never to go north of the pass if the Indians agreed to cease their raids in the south, and a red flag was placed on the pass as a symbol of the treaty.

Though it is not clear if one or any of these accounts is true, the name was in use by 1842, when a group of Texas Rangers under the command of Col. John Coffee (Jack) Hays defeated a large party of Comanches at Bandera Pass. In 1852 John James, Charles S. DeMontel, and John J. Herndon entered into a partnership to acquire land “in and above the mountains, commencing ten or fifteen miles above Castroville.” Their purpose was to establish a town on the Medina River with a sawmill in order to cut the huge cypress trees that grew there for shingles. In 1853, James and DeMontel surveyed and platted the town of Bandera, and in early 1853 A. M. Milstead, Thomas Odem, P. D. Saner, and their families camped along the river and began making cypress shingles. By the fall of the same year the firm of James, Montel and Company built a horse-powered sawmill and opened a commissary store.

In March 1854 a group of Mormons led by elder Lyman Wight reached Bandera. The colony, numbering approximately 250, eventually settled a few miles below the town at a site known for many years as “Mormon Camp,” which is now covered by Medina Lake. For a time the Mormons manufactured tables, chairs and other furnishings, which they sold in San Antonio. But Wight died before the colony was fully established, and many of the colony moved on to Utah or settled in San Antonio. A small number, however, stayed, and their descendants still live in the area.

In February 1855, 16 Polish families arrived in Bandera to work in James and DeMontel’s sawmill, and in August of the same year August Klappenbach opened the first store and post office. On January 25, 1856, the legislature marked off Bandera County from portions of Bexar County; the new county was formally organized on March 10, 1856.

Though Bandera County had schools in 1857 and 1858, taught by teachers named P. P. Pool and Koenigheim, the area maintained its frontier character until well after the Civil War. Indian attacks were frequent. Despite the establishment of Camp Verde just over the line in Kerr County, settlers lived in constant fear of raids. As late as 1860 the population was only 399, the majority of whom were recent immigrants from East Texas or from the states of the Old South. Despite the relative hardships, numerous new settlers arrived during the 1870s.

Religion has always played an important role in Bandera County. The Mormons organized their church shortly after arriving in 1854, and the following year the Polish immigrants, all of whom were Catholic, built a small log church where Father Leopold Moczygemba came to offer Mass and administer the sacraments once a month. St. Stanislaus Church is the second oldest Polish parish in the United States. The First Methodist Church was organized just after the Civil War, a Church of Christ began meeting in the 1870s, and the First Baptist Church was organized in 1883. In the mid-1980s Bandera had fifteen churches, with a estimated combined membership of 3,319. The largest denominations were Baptist, Catholic, and Methodist.

The tourist trade has also become a major source of the county’s income. In 1920, Cora and Ed Buck began taking summer boarders at their ranch on Julian Creek. Other families soon advertised for guests, and Bandera, despite its relative isolation, became well known as a resort, with numerous restaurants, dance halls and dude ranches. Such attractions such as the Frontier Times Museum, Bandera Pass and the site of Camp Montel also bring in thousands of tourists and vacationers annually. Lost Maples State Natural Area, near Vanderpool in the west end of the county, is a birder’s paradise known for its fall foliage display; Hill Country State Natural Area is a 4,253-acre primitive camping area with trails for hiking and horseback riding.

The information above is excerpted from the Handbook of Texas, an encyclopedia published by the Texas State Historical Association. The Handbook can be accessed online at www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online. Copies of the two-volume set may be obtained by contacting the TSHA at (512) 232-1513.