After the U.S. Army pushed Lipan Apache and, later, Comanche farther north in 1873, the region was open for settlement. The first settlers were Germans, brought by the Adelsverein from Fredericksburg in the early 1850s. Llano (Spanish for “plain”) was established in 1856 when the state legislature organized Llano County. A brief boom between 1886 and 1893 based on the discovery of iron deposits in the northwest part of the county attracted investment in Llano. Street names such as Pittsburg, Bessemer, and Sheffield highlight Llano’s prospects of becoming the “Pittsburgh of the West,” but iron mining soon proved unprofitable.
Llano was incorporated in 1892, the same year the Austin and Northwestern Railroad extended a branch along the north side of the Llano River, generating competition with the older town on the south bank. Improved transportation enabled development of the granite industry, which began in 1888 and remains a mainstay of the local economy (providing seventeen types of Texan granite), along with ranching and farming. Llano’s many fine stone buildings reflect the abundance and quality of this local material.
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