Palo Pinto County Was Built on Cattle, Brazos River Land, and Mineral Wells

The Texas legislature created Palo Pinto County in 1856 from parts of Bosque and Navarro counties. It was formally organized in 1857. The county is named after one of its main streams. It lies about 80 miles west of Fort Worth, covering roughly 948 square miles of hilly, broken land drained by the Brazos River. Cattle ranching was the backbone of the early economy. By 1880, ranchers counted more than 42,000 cattle in the county.

Mineral Wells, the county's largest town, grew into a regional destination in the late 1800s. A railway reached the town in 1891 specifically to bring visitors seeking the supposed health benefits of the local mineral water. Fort Wolters, near Mineral Wells, served as a military training base from 1925 through World War II and was closed in 1973. Today the county economy mixes ranching, oil and gas, and lake tourism centered on Possum Kingdom Lake and Lake Palo Pinto.