The story
Sherwood was laid out in 1886 in the ranch country of Irion County and, when the county organized in 1889, became its seat. It was the county's only real town, with about 339 people in 1900, and in 1901 the citizens built a handsome two-story stone courthouse by the master builders Martin and Moodie.
Then the railroad passed it by. The Kansas City, Mexico and Orient line was built two miles away in 1910–11, and the new town of Mertzon grew up on the tracks and pulled Sherwood's people and business toward it. Mertzon took the county seat by election in 1936, and Sherwood faded to a near-ghost; its post office closed in 1974. The courthouse — never replaced, never demolished — still stands.
What remains today
The 1901 Old Irion County Courthouse (on the National Register), a few houses and church buildings, and the cemetery.
Questions from the field
- Is the old Sherwood courthouse still standing?
- Yes — the 1901 stone Old Irion County Courthouse survives and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was never replaced after the county seat moved to Mertzon, leaving it standing in the near-abandoned town.
From the field
The most valuable part of this record is the part only visitors can write.
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Check in at Sherwood — GPS-verified visits earn an inked stamp.
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Road conditions, what's still standing, what's gone — your report joins the record.
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Primary sources for this record
- — USGS GNIS feature 1368135
- — Texas State Historical Association — Handbook of Texas, 'Sherwood, TX'
- — Old Irion County Courthouse (National Register of Historic Places)