Knickerbocker 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 hav ...

in southwestern

Tom Green County, Texas Tom Green County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 120,003. Its county seat is San Angelo. The county was created in 1874 and organized the following year. It i ...

, United States. It lies along Farm to Market Road 2335, southwest of the city of

San Angelo San Angelo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Tom Green County, Texas, United States. Its location is in the Concho Valley, a region of West Texas between the Permian Basin to the northwest, Chihuahuan Desert to the southwest, Osage Plai ...

, the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US ...

of Tom Green County. Its elevation is 2,051 feet (625 m). Although Knickerbocker is unincorporated, it has a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

, with the ZIP code of 76939. Named for Washington Irving's character Diedrich Knickerbocker by early settlers related to Irving, the community quickly became significant, being the most important community in the county aside from San Angelo. Agriculture was long the community's mainstay, between grain farming and sheep ranching. The first settlers in the area arrived in 1875, and the first townsite was established along Dove Creek; Knickerbocker's post office was established in 1881 and rebuilt in 1896 and 1936. The community was moved in 1889 around a nearby hill to have better access to water. Local children were able to attend school in Knickerbocker starting in 1889, but the school was closed and merged into Christoval's system in 1956.Knickerbocker, Texas

Handbook of Texas Online 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 ...

, 2008-01-17. Accessed 2008-08-11.

Notable person

Laura Bullion Laura Bullion (October 1876 – December 2, 1961) was an outlaw of the Old West. Most sources indicate Bullion was born in Knickerbocker, near Mertzon, Texas, Mertzon, in Irion County, Texas; the exact day of her birth is unclear. Data in the 1880 ...

(1876 – 1961) was an outlaw of the Old West and a member of

Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch was one of the loosely organized outlaw gangs operating out of the Hole-in-the-Wall, near Kaycee in Wyoming, a natural fortress with caves, with a narrow entrance that was constantly guarded. In the beginning, the ga ...

References

External links

* Unincorporated communities in Tom Green County, Texas Unincorporated communities in Texas {{TomGreenCountyTX-geo-stub