Kiowa and Comanche raids shaped early Parker County

When Euro-American settlers started moving into what is now Parker County in the late 1840s, Kiowa and Comanche bands were the main powers in the area. Weatherford was a frontier outpost during this time. Settlers used it as a place of refuge.

The Handbook of Texas says the last recorded Indian raid in the county took place in 1874. After that, settlement grew fast. Federal military campaigns had shifted the balance of power on the southern plains. Parker County's early identity came from this frontier setting. It was one of the farthest-west settled parts of Texas during the 1850s and 1860s.