The first European settlers in present-day Llano County were German immigrants. The German noblemen’s society, or Adelsverein, had purchased more than three million acres between the Llano and Colorado Rivers (known as the Fisher-Miller grant) in 1844 and while most of the German settlers stopped at the way-stations of New Braunfels and Fredericksburg, a few brave souls crossed the Llano River into their Comanche-dominated “promised land.” The 1850 census listed “32 persons on the Llano River.”

The decade of the 1850s saw a flood of settlers coming from the east with farming in mind, and the population increased rapidly throughout most of the Hill Country. Two of the first in the Llano area were Clement and John Oatman, who came to Packsaddle Mountain from Bastrop County in 1851, and moved a couple of miles south of the present Llano townsite shortly thereafter. Their new home came to be known as Oatman Creek, and several other members of the family came to join them in 1853. In the meantime, David and Gideon Cowan crossed the Colorado River and established a saltworks about 15 miles to the east. The town of Bluffton grew around them, becoming the area’s most prosperous community.

Several smaller communities sprang up, and by 1856, there were enough people to form a new county. Residents were asked to choose one of two sites for the seat of the new county. One site was at the center of the county, where John Oatman Sr. donated 100 acres on the south side of the Llano River to build a new town. The other was at Wright’s Creek, to the east. Despite concerns voiced by David Cowan and others from Bluffton, the site on the Llano River was chosen; Cowan became the first county judge.

John Oatman Jr. purchased a lot in town and built a picket house store. He also became Llano’s first postmaster. John Buttery built two small one-story rock buildings, one of which was used as an office by the county clerk. By 1858, a little town ...

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