Comal County is located on the Edwards Plateau in the largest state in the contiguous United States, Texas. It’s part of the San Antonio – New Braunfels metropolitan area and holds a population of around 108,000 people. With that population spread over 29,000 households, the density stands at around 139 people per square mile. Good for business, education, and future prospects is a relative focus on younger folks, with the over-65 set making up only 14% of the total population. Median income for a household is right about $46,000 and median family income stands around $52,000, making for a solidly middle class and stable economy.
The state has a rich history, going back to early Native American inhabitants, including the Tonkawa, Waco, Karankawa, and Lipan Apache people. As early as 1700, the area became known as Comal, the Spanish term for “flat dish.” The area was flush with new immigrants from Germany, Switzerland, and more over the course of the 1800s and was officially formed as a county in 1846 by the Texas legislature. The county is notable for never having had slave labor while the practice was still legal in the US.
Uniquely, the Texas State Convention of Germans met in San Antonio to adapt a political, social, and religious platform that included equal pay for equal work, direct election of the President of the United States, abolition of capital punishment and slavery alike, free public schooling without religious influence, and total separation of church and state. This was highly progressive and influenced the trajectory of the county to this day.
The county established itself during the 20th century as a manufacturing and shipping center for textiles and construction materials, before the discovery of the Natural Bridge Caverns, the largest known caverns in the entire state. Tourism from this feature, as well as Canyon Lake, has forever since been a boon to the county’s economy. The heavily German ancestry of the population also means that the annual Wurstfest is a major draw.
The large county also has vast open spaces that include a handful of ghost towns, including Canyon City, Honey Creek, Startzville and more. These unique features are rarely found outside the American southwest.
