Outdoor Living in Comanche County, Texas

Building in Comanche County

Comanche County is in central Texas, with Mills County to the south, Brown to the west, Eastland to the north, and Hamilton and Erath to the east. It covers 944 square miles of rolling land. The county seat, also named Comanche, is about seventy miles southeast of Abilene.

Elevations range from 650 to 1,700 feet, and the North and South Leon rivers drain toward the Brazos. The north lies in the Western Cross Timbers, with light sandy and loamy soils, while the south has dark waxy and dark loam soils. Annual rainfall averages 18.45 inches. January minimums average 32° F, July maximums 95°, and the growing season is 238 days.

The county is named for the Comanche Indians, who held the area into the mid-nineteenth century. Jesse Mercer organized a colony in 1854, and the legislature formed the county in 1856 from Coryell and Bosque counties, with Cora as seat until Comanche took over in 1859. Cattle ranching was the leading business in the early years. The Texas Central Railroad began service in 1881, hauling cattle and cotton to market.

NOAA’s Storm Events Database lists 18 hail reports in Comanche County from 2016 to 2025, 18 of them an inch across or larger, with stones up to 4.25 inches. The same records show 22 damaging thunderstorm wind reports, with gusts up to about 78 mph. That is why a patio cover’s roof panels, fasteners and posts here are chosen for hail and wind, not only for shade.