Kinney County is located in an area that has been the site of human habitation for several thousand years. Artifacts recovered in the region suggest that the earliest human inhabitants arrived around 6,000 to 10,000 years ago and settled in rockshelters in the river and creek valleys. They left behind caches of seeds, implements, burial sites, and petroglyphs. Following these earliest inhabitants, Lipan Apaches, Coahuiltecans, Jumanos, Tamaulipans, and Tonkawas inhabited the region; later, Comanches and Mescaleros also drifted in.

Despite the region's sparse population, the state legislature authorized the formation of the county from Bexar County in 1850 and named it for early settler and adventurer Henry Lawrence Kinney. In June 1852 the United States Army established a fort on Las Moras Creek, which it named Fort Riley; the name was changed a month later to Fort Clark, after John B. Clark, who had died in the Mexican War. Brackett (now Brackettville) was established nearby the same year and named for Oscar B. Brackett, who came to set up a stage stop and opened the town's first dry-goods store. Brackett became a stop on a stage line from San Antonio to El Paso, but the settlement grew very slowly because of continuous Indian attacks. Between 1850 and 1860 most Kinney County settlers were persons of Mexican descent or families of men stationed at Fort Clark. In 1860 the total population of the county was only sixty-one-forty-six whites and fifteen free blacks. As was typical on the frontier, men outnumbered women, thirty-seven to twenty-four. The county seat of Kinney county is Brackettville.

Tourist attractions, of increasing importance economically, include Kickapoo Cavern State Park, Alamo Village, Las Moras Park, the Nueces River Canyon, Anacacho Game Preserve, the Seminole Indian Scout Burial Ground, and Fort Clark, as well as numerous dude ranches. The county's large deer population attracts numerous hunters.

[Christopher Long, "KINNEY COUNTY," Handbook of Texas Online Published by the Texas State Historical Association.]

CITIES AND MUNICIPALITIES