Schleicher County

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Schleicher County. Out here in this stretch of West Texas, the land itself has a story, and it starts with another county giving up a piece of itself.

Schleicher County was formed from Crockett County, created on April 1st, 1887. Now, you might think April Fool's Day is a strange birthday for a county, but the land didn't seem to mind. It just sat there, patient as ever, waiting.

Created in 1887, but here's the thing about this part of Texas. The creating and the organizing don't always happen at the same time. This county waited fourteen years before enough people had settled in to get things properly organized.

That happened on July 9th, 1901. Fourteen years of waiting, and then, all right, let's get to work. The county takes its name from Gustav Schleicher, born in 1823, gone in 1879.

He came to Texas as a pioneer German settler, which is no small thing. Putting down roots in a place this vast, this unforgiving, this quietly magnificent, that takes a certain kind of conviction. And Gustav Schleicher had it.

He went on to serve as a member of the Texas Legislature, and then climbed higher still, earning a seat as a member of the United States Congress. The man left his mark on the law before the law had quite finished being written out here. The county seat is Eldorado.

And then there's this final little detail the marker offers up, almost as a footnote, but don't let the brevity fool you. The first bale of cotton came in 1904. Three years after the county got itself organized, somebody coaxed a bale of cotton out of this West Texas ground.

That's the kind of stubbornness this county was named for.

What the marker says

Formed from Crockett County. Created April 1, 1887. Organized July 9, 1901. Named in honor of Gustav Schleicher, 1823-1879. Pioneer German settler, member of the Texas Legislature, member of the United States Congress. County seat, Eldorado. First bale of cotton, 1904.