Sherwood is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Irion County,

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, United States. It served as the county seat until 1939, when it was supplanted by neighboring Mertzon.

History

Sherwood was founded in 1886, and when Irion County was organized in 1889, it became the county's seat of government and a courthouse was built. The town received a post office in 1881, with William S. Kelly as first postmasterSchmidt, Walter G. (1993) ''An Encyclopaedia of Texas Post Offices'', p. 194. Chicago, Illinois: The Collectors' Club of Chicago. and by 1900 the population exceeded 300. When the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway built a line across the county in 1910, Sherwood was bypassed and the new railroad town of Mertzon was established. As was the case with many small towns bypassed in the early days of rail transportation, Sherwood was essentially doomed. Commerce soon began to move to Mertzon, and in 1939 the seat of government relocated there as well. Today, Sherwood is home to an estimated 73 residents; the former Irion County Courthouse, built in 1901, still stands at the center of town and functions as a community center. The post office closed in 1974.

References

Handbook of Texas Online entry for Sherwood.
Populated places in Irion County, Texas Unincorporated communities in Texas Populated places established in 1886 1886 establishments in Texas {{IrionCountyTX-geo-stub