Foard County Texas map
33.96° N · 99.82° W · County seat: Crowell · 707 sq mi
Foard County was assembled in 1891 out of pieces of four counties that already existed, and it has stayed the smallest of the group ever since. Crowell, at the crossing of US-70 and State Highway 6, is the only incorporated town inside its 707 square miles.
Foard County in the Rolling Plains of northwest Texas. The Pease River crosses the northern half of the county from west to east.
Where Foard County is
The county sits on the Rolling Plains about 76 miles west of Wichita Falls and 105 miles north of Abilene. It is a two-hour drive from any city of size, and the nearest four-lane road is US-287 one county north.
Six counties surround it: Hardeman on the north, Wilbarger on the east, Baylor at the southeast corner, Knox on the south, King at the southwest corner and Cottle on the west. Four of those six — Cottle, Hardeman, King and Knox — each gave up land to create Foard County in 1891. The name honours Robert Levi Foard, a Texas attorney who had served as a major in the Confederate army.
Crowell and the rest of the county
| Place | Type | 2020 population |
|---|---|---|
| Crowell (county seat) | City | 767 |
| Rest of Foard County | Unincorporated | 328 |
| County total | 1,095 |
Crowell holds seven of every ten people in the county. The 2024 census estimate for the county is 1,053.
The two roads
- US-70 runs east–west, entering from Cottle County near Thalia and leaving toward Vernon in Wilbarger County. It is the through route between Paducah and Wichita Falls.
- State Highway 6 runs north–south, coming down from Quanah in Hardeman County and continuing south to Benjamin in Knox County. Everything on SH-6 between Quanah and Benjamin passes through Crowell.
The two meet at Crowell, which is why the courthouse square is where it is. Farm roads fan out from that crossing to the old cotton and wheat communities of Thalia, Margaret, Rayland and Foard City, none of which is incorporated.
The Pease River fight
The Pease River, a Red River tributary, cuts across the northern part of the county and gives Foard County its one entry in most Texas history books. On 19 December 1860 a party of Texas Rangers under Lawrence Sullivan Ross attacked a Comanche camp near the river in what is now northeastern Foard County. Among the people taken was Cynthia Ann Parker, seized by Comanches as a child in 1836 and by then the mother of Quanah Parker. A state historical marker northeast of Crowell records the site.
Quanah, the town named for her son, is 30 miles north on State Highway 6 in Hardeman County. South of the Pease the county is dryland wheat, cotton and cattle country, broken by the draws that feed the river.