Llano County

Llano County, located in Central Texas, is surrounded on the north by San Saba County, on the east by Burnet County, on the south by Gillespie County, and on the west by Mason County. Llano, the county seat, is seventy-two miles northwest of Austin and near the center point of the county.

Cities, Towns & Communities

Baby Head | Bettina | Bluffton | Buchanan Dam | Castell | Click | Horseshoe Bay (partly in Burnet County) | Kingsland | Llano – county seat | Sunrise Beach Village | Tow Valley | Valley Spring (Whistleville, Bugscuffle)

History

Llano County 1858. This is a new county, in Western Texas, and in that region where much land was granted to the German colonists : the Colorado river forms its eastern boundary, and the Rio Llano runs through the county. A writer in the Texas Christian Advocate says : “Twenty miles from the mouth of the latter river is the county-seat. It is, like all other Western streams, clear and swift. Five miles below the mouth is the Sandy, a small stream. There are many indications of the precious metals in this section. The soil is not of great depth, and is underlaid with immense strata of rock, embracing granitic, sandstone, and thirteen varieties of quartz rock. As a stock and fruit country, it is unsurpassed. The Pack-saddle mountain May be seen from twenty to fifty miles, and is separated, by a valley of two miles wide, from all other hills or mountains : it has two abrupt ascents, called domes, which give to the mountain much of its grandeur. Honey Creek Cove lies within three miles of the Pack-saddle, and is inhabited by a number of settlers. The creek empties into the Llano, and has a number of falls, some as high as sixty feet; and there is much water-power, and situations well adapted to machinery. The whole valley, or cove, can be irrigated at a small expense ; and will, I have no doubt, at no distant day, be converted into a vineyard.

Llano County was organized in 1856 after the Texas legislature formed the county from the Bexar District and Gillespie County. Donations of 250 acres were made for a site for the county seat. By 1858 the population exceeded 1,000, and cattle, hides, and pecans were being exported. Farming was the chief occupation in the north and ranching in the south. Germans predominated in the western parts and Anglo-Americans in the other areas. By 1860 the county had eighty-nine farms, encompassing 59,744 acres. The agricultural census that year reported 21,344 cattle and 1,492 sheep in Llano County, and the corn harvest exceeded 23,500 bushels. The United States census found 1,101 people living in the county that year; of these, 21 were slaveholders and 54 were slaves. 

Courthouses

Llano County has been the home of four courthouses, all located in Llano. Of the four halls of justice, one was built as a temporary courthouse, two were lost to fire, and the final courthouse has been used for well over 100 years. 

Location

Llano, TX 30° 45′ 33.642″ N, 98° 40′ 30.1368″ W

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