Coleman County was created from Travis and Brown Counties in 1858. There were settlers as early as 1856, due in large part to the fact that Camp Colorado had been established for protection against Indian raids. The first recorded census for the county was made in 1860 and is included as part of Brown County. The county was named for Col. Robert M. Coleman. The first court house was built between 1871 and 1876 at Camp Colorado , or at least court was held there during that time. In July 1876 it was ordered that the town of Coleman City be laid out and location for the court house was given. In 1883 the bid was let for the pernament court house. In 1951 it was decided that despite a 1900 addition the court house needed to be inlarged and improved. The court house still stands on the orginal location but the outside has been encased to give a different appearance.
Coleman City was founded in 1876 on the bank of Hords Creek, an area of rolling, grassy , fertile bottom lands. City was soon dropped to make Coleman the county seat of Coleman County Texas. Today Coleman is located on US Hwy. 84 with connections to other major highways.
The area is still devoted to large scale farming and ranching; with additional income from oil, natural gas, limestone,and hunting leases. At one time Silica Sand, a fine grade glass sand, was mined from the Santa Anna mountain. Santa Anna Mountains are a natural land mark of Coleman County and were used as a look out point for Indian Cheif Santana and later by the Texas Rangers because several counties could be viewed from the peaks.
Coleman County is rich in history and much of it has been preserved. Two places to see some articles of the past are, Coleman City Park and Museum.
COLEMAN CITY PARK - Includes museum, and pioneer blacksmith shop, picnic and playground areas amid shady trees along Hords Creek at U.S. 283 north.
COLEMAN COUNTY MUSEUM - Housed in an 1936 replica of a building of Old Camp Colorado are displays of pioneer clothes, dishes, farm equipment, documents, saddles, barbed wire, and larger-than-life horse statue; brought to Coleman in 1884 to display saddles. Open June - August Friday - Wednesday'; April, May, September, Sat., Sun. afternoons.
Coleman County today is a hunters and fisherman's paradise, due to several lakes and rivers and the amount of wild-game available. Bounded on the South by the Colorado River, Coleman County also has three lakes to fish. Hunting for deer, quail , dove and turkey is also popular sports.
Because of the county's central location, Santa Anna has been chosen for the head quarters of the Texas Bison Raisers Association.
Several books about Coleman County have been written by local people who were interested in preserving some history. The latest is a 1200 plus page book by the Historical Society intitled "Coleman County, It's History and People ". Among other are "Into the Setting Sun" by Beatrice Grady Gay,"Historically Speaking" by Gladys Neven Hunter and "Santa Anna's Peaks", "They Came in Peace to Coleman County", "Banister Was There", "Four Years in a County Jail(1914-1918", and "First Lady on Home Creek", "Discard Texas on Camp Creek" all by Leona Bruce.
The cemeteries of Coleman County were indexed into three volumes in 1988.Cemeteries are ;Vol.I- City of Coleman.
Vol.II-Ferguson,Midway,Atoka,Rough Creek,AndeValley,Huddleston,Gipson,Mount View, Ray,Elkins,White Chapel,Herring,Glen Cove,Talpa,Post Oak Springs,Old Valera,Valera,Burkett Family,Adams,Henderson,Burkett, Howe, Nations,Walker, Camp Colorado,Bevans Grave,Lone Star, Seventh Day Adventists,and Hancock.
Vol.III-Trap Crossing,Leaday,Flat Top Ranch,Voss,Hill,Brown Ranch,Gouldbusk,Shields,Plainview,Santa Anna,Cleveland,Barton,Stewardson,Trickham,Fiveash,Jordan,Daniel,Rockwood,Whon and Simmons.In addition there are a few single marked graves that are noted in this work.
To see some resorces for Coleman County,tryColeman County GenWeb.
