Maverick County was established from Kinney County and named for Samuel A. Maverick in 1856.
 The county was organized some years later on September 4, 1871.
The estimated population of the county in 1860 was 726.
Eagle Pass voted 83-3 against secession from the Union.

Fort Duncan was occupied by Confederate troops during the Civil War.
Eagle Pass was chosen as a trade depot for the Military Board of Texas.
Eagle Pass was a major terminus of the Cotton Road, custom house and Confederate port of entry into Mexico 1863-65.
A cotton press was installed at Piedras Negras to handle the enormous quantities coming across the Rio Grande.
At the close of the Civil War, General Joseph Orville Shelby’s brigade never surrendered, but hoped to continue their fight across the border.
On July 4, 1865, Shelby stopped in the middle of the Rio Grande to bury the last Confederate flag to fly over his troops.
To the sound of drum and bugle, he wrapped the flag around the plume of his hat, weighted it with a stone from the river bank, and lowered it into the river.
Shelby’s unit became known as “The Undefeated” and was used as a basis for the 1969 John Wayne-Rock Hudson film by the same name.

Saloons, gambling houses, and smuggling operations proliferated in and around Eagle Pass during Reconstruction.
The infamous J. King Fisher and his followers dominated the era in the region.

Telegraph lines reached Eagle Pass in 1875.
In 1880, the main line of the Galveston, Harrisburg, and San Antonio Railway was extended west from San Antonio, connecting to the Mexican Railway in Piedras Negras.

Irrigation has been vital to area farmers.
In 1885, rancher Patrick W. Thomson formed the Eagle Pass Irrigation Company to construct a huge gravity-flow irrigation system to draw water from the Rio Grande.
Thompson died in 1910, but his efforts came to fruition as the Maverick County Irrigation Canal system, operational by April 1932.

March 3, 1911, when Lt.
Benjamin D. Foulois and Philip O. Parmalee made the first official military reconnaissance flight, looking for Army troops between Laredo and Eagle Pass, Texas, with a ground exercise in progress.
 In 1942, the Army Air Force built a single-engine advanced flying school 12 mi (19 km) north of Eagle Pass.

Oil and gas exploration in the county began in the 1950s, with the largest fields being the 1969 Fitzpatrick and Wipff, and the 1970 Burr.

The coal industry of Maverick County is located along a section of the Olmos Coal Formation  immediately north of Eagle Pass.
Mining operations developed by Dolch at Dolchburg and by the Olmos Coal, Coke, and Oil Company at Olmos were the largest coal producers in Texas around the turn of the 20th century.

Industries located in the county in 1977 included a cotton gin and two cattle feedlots with capacities of 25,000 cattle at El Indio, one at Normandy, and another between Eagle Pass and El Indio.
A spinach-packing shed was at the southern edge of Eagle Pass.
Industries which have located in the Eagle Pass–Maverick County area since 1977 include the Eagle Pass Manufacturing Company (a division of Hicks-Ponder, Inc) and the Williamson-Dickie Manufacturing Co, both makers of work clothing; the Reynolds Mining Corp fluorspar plant and the Tejas Barite plant; Alta-Verde Industries and Maverick Beef Producers, and the Big River Catfish Farm.

In 1982, 88 percent of all land in the county was considered farmland and ranches, but only 2 percent of the farmland was under cultivation, and most of that was irrigated.
Primary crops were hay, oats, and wheat.
Maverick County was established from Kinney County and named for Samuel A. Maverick in 1856.  The county was organized some years later on September 4, 1871. The estimated population of the county in 1860 was 726. Eagle Pass voted 83-3 against secession from the Union.
Fort Duncan was occupied by Confederate troops during the Civil War. Eagle Pass was chosen as a trade depot for the Military Board of Texas. Eagle Pass was a major terminus of the Cotton Road, custom house and Confederate port of entry into Mexico 1863-65. A cotton press was installed at Piedras Negras to handle the enormous quantities coming across the Rio Grande. At the close of the Civil War, General Joseph Orville Shelby’s brigade never surrendered, but hoped to continue their fight across the border. On July 4, 1865, Shelby stopped in the middle of the Rio Grande to bury the last Confederate flag to fly over his troops. To the sound of drum and bugle, he wrapped the flag around the plume of his hat, weighted it with a stone from the river bank, and lowered it into the river. Shelby’s unit became known as “The Undefeated” and was used as a basis for the 1969 John Wayne-Rock Hudson film by the same name.
Saloons, gambling houses, and smuggling operations proliferated in and around Eagle Pass during Reconstruction. The infamous J. King Fisher and his followers dominated the era in the region.
Telegraph lines reached Eagle Pass in 1875. In 1880, the main line of the Galveston, Harrisburg, and San Antonio Railway was extended west from San Antonio, connecting to the Mexican Railway in Piedras Negras.
Irrigation has been vital to area farmers. In 1885, rancher Patrick W. Thomson formed the Eagle Pass Irrigation Company to construct a huge gravity-flow irrigation system to draw water from the Rio Grande. Thompson died in 1910, but his efforts came to fruition as the Maverick County Irrigation Canal system, operational by April 1932.
March 3, 1911, when Lt. Benjamin D. Foulois and Philip O. Parmalee made the first official military reconnaissance flight, looking for Army troops between Laredo and Eagle Pass, Texas, with a ground exercise in progress.  In 1942, the Army Air Force built a single-engine advanced flying school 12 mi (19 km) north of Eagle Pass.
Oil and gas exploration in the county began in the 1950s, with the largest fields being the 1969 Fitzpatrick and Wipff, and the 1970 Burr.
The coal industry of Maverick County is located along a section of the Olmos Coal Formation  immediately north of Eagle Pass. Mining operations developed by Dolch at Dolchburg and by the Olmos Coal, Coke, and Oil Company at Olmos were the largest coal producers in Texas around the turn of the 20th century.
Industries located in the county in 1977 included a cotton gin and two cattle feedlots with capacities of 25,000 cattle at El Indio, one at Normandy, and another between Eagle Pass and El Indio. A spinach-packing shed was at the southern edge of Eagle Pass. Industries which have located in the Eagle Pass–Maverick County area since 1977 include the Eagle Pass Manufacturing Company (a division of Hicks-Ponder, Inc) and the Williamson-Dickie Manufacturing Co, both makers of work clothing; the Reynolds Mining Corp fluorspar plant and the Tejas Barite plant; Alta-Verde Industries and Maverick Beef Producers, and the Big River Catfish Farm.
In 1982, 88 percent of all land in the county was considered farmland and ranches, but only 2 percent of the farmland was under cultivation, and most of that was irrigated. Primary crops were hay, oats, and wheat.
Maverick County, Texas