A little Frio County history

The Texas Legislature carved Frio County out of Atascosa, Bexar, and Uvalde counties in 1858, though the frontier being what it was, the county was not formally organized until 1871. Both the county and the river that runs through it take their name from the Spanish word frío — “cold” — for the clear, spring-fed water that drew travelers, ranchers, and cattle drives long before there were county lines.

The first county seat was Frio Town, a stop on the old road between San Antonio and the border. When the International & Great Northern Railroad came through in the early 1880s, business followed the tracks and Pearsall became the county seat in 1883. The handsome stone courthouse on the square has anchored county business ever since — and it is still where Frio County divorce petitions are filed today.

Pearsall earned a nickname most towns would envy: the Peanut Capital of the World. At the height of the peanut trade the town celebrated with a festival and a monument to the crop that paid for a lot of Frio County homes. Ranching, farming, and — more recently — the Eagle Ford Shale have all taken their turn shaping the county’s fortunes and the families who live here.

And then there is Bigfoot. The little community north of Pearsall is named for William A. A. “Bigfoot” Wallace, the frontiersman and Texas Ranger who survived the Mier Expedition’s black bean lottery and lived out his later years in the area. Not many counties can say their map includes a genuine Texas legend.