Sanco is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in Coke County,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, United States. According to the

Handbook of Texas The ''Handbook of Texas'' is a comprehensive encyclopedia of Texas geography, history, and historical persons published by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). History The original ''Handbook'' was the brainchild of TSHA President Wal ...

, the community had a population of 30 in 2000.

History

Ranchers in what was then Tom Green County settled Sanco in the early 1880s. Sanaco, a

Comanche The Comanche or Nʉmʉnʉʉ ( com, Nʉmʉnʉʉ, "the people") are a Native American tribe from the Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the federally recognized Comanche Nation, headquartered in La ...

leader who frequently set up camp there before White colonization, is honored by the name. In 1888, J. L. Durham established the first post office in his rock residence, and a meetinghouse was used as a place of worship. Additionally, a general store was opened. The settlement was relocated to flatter land near water in 1907. At the new location, a Methodist church had already been constructed. Sanco operated a

cotton gin A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); a ...

from 1905 until the 1920s, when

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

, low prices, and the destruction caused by boll weevils put an end to

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

farming in the region. In 1920, the post office closed, but it reopened in 1924. The town's economy finally collapsed in the 1940s and 1950s when rural routes were improved. The post office was shut down by 1976, and the last store shuttered in the early 1970s. Thirty was the population in 1970 and 2000. In the 1850s, soldiers at Fort Chadbourne had skirmishes with Indians. Comanche chief Yellow Wolf also camped out in the area. He is buried in the local cemetery and fought the Lipan. The community was also home to a

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

shop.

Geography

Sanco is located east of

Texas State Highway 208 State Highway 208 (SH 208) is a Texas state highway that runs from San Angelo to southeast of Spur. History The route was originally designated on July 16, 1934 from San Angelo to Robert Lee. On June 16, 1936, SH 208 was extended north to Colo ...

on an unnamed county road, northwest of Robert Lee, southeast of Colorado City, and north of San Angelo in central Coke County. It is also located on Yellow Wolf Creek.Sanco at TexasEscapes
/ref> Farm to Market Road 18 used to travel through the community in 1942.

Education

A local meetinghouse served as the first school in 1888. Ulmer Bird was given a land grant for another school, and the Horse Mountain and Meadow Mountain schools consolidated with the Sanco school. Today, the community is served by the Robert Lee Independent School District.

References

{{Authority control Unincorporated communities in Texas Unincorporated communities in Coke County, Texas