How Fisher County and Roby Got Their Names

Fisher County was carved out of Bexar County in 1876. It was named after Samuel Rhoads Fisher. He signed the Texas Declaration of Independence. The county did not get organized until 1886. Early settlers were mostly cattle ranchers. The 1880 census counted only 136 people. Even so, cattle already numbered over 24,000.

Roby became the county seat after a fight in the mid-1880s. Two sites competed: the Roby location and the nearby community of Fisher. Developers from Mississippi backed Roby. The election was disputed. It came out later that one of the voters, a Bill Purp, was actually a dog owned by a Roby supporter. Roby won anyway and has been the county seat ever since.

The county covers 897 square miles in the Rolling Plains. Elevations run from about 1,800 to 2,400 feet. Rotan, not Roby, is the largest town today.