Sanco, Texas

Sanco is an unincorporated community in Coke County, Texas, United States. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had a population of 30 in 2000.

History
Ranchers in what was then Tom Green County settled Sanco in the early 1880s. Sanaco, a Comanche leader who frequently set up camp there before White colonization, is honored by the name. In 1888, J. L. Durham established the first post office in his rock residence, and a meetinghouse was used as a place of worship. Additionally, a general store was opened. The settlement was relocated to flatter land near water in 1907. At the new location, a Methodist church had already been constructed. Sanco operated a cotton gin from 1905 until the 1920s, when drought, low prices, and the destruction caused by boll weevils put an end to cotton farming in the region. In 1920, the post office closed, but it reopened in 1924. The town's economy finally collapsed in the 1940s and 1950s when rural routes were improved. The post office was shut down by 1976, and the last store shuttered in the early 1970s. Thirty was the population in 1970 and 2000.

In the 1850s, soldiers at Fort Chadbourne had skirmishes with Indians. Comanche chief Yellow Wolf also camped out in the area. He is buried in the local cemetery and fought the Lipan. The community was also home to a blacksmith shop.

Geography
Sanco is located east of Texas State Highway 208 on an unnamed county road, 9 mi northwest of Robert Lee, 30 mi southeast of Colorado City, and 47 mi north of San Angelo in central Coke County. It is also located on Yellow Wolf Creek. Farm to Market Road 18 used to travel through the community in 1942.

Education
A local meetinghouse served as the first school in 1888. Ulmer Bird was given a land grant for another school, and the Horse Mountain and Meadow Mountain schools consolidated with the Sanco school. Today, the community is served by the Robert Lee Independent School District.