Bandera, TX

Bandera is the Bandera County seat on the Medina River in the Texas Hill Country, about 47 miles northwest of San Antonio. The town's cowboy identity comes from the Great Western Cattle Trail, which began near Bandera and used the town as a staging point for longhorn drives heading north. Bandera was founded in 1855 by Polish Roman Catholic immigrants from Silesia, whose legacy remains in St. Stanislaus Catholic Church and the town's older architecture. The 2020 census counted 829 residents.

Western Trail Heritage Park marks the cattle-drive connection, and the courthouse lawn carries a monument to the rodeo champions associated with the town's self-styled Cowboy Capital title. Bandera ISD serves local students, with Bandera High School's Bulldogs adding a present-day school identity. Downtown blocks, the Medina River, the courthouse, churches, ranch roads, and heritage sites all sit inside the same Hill Country frame. Bandera is a county-seat town where Polish settlement, cattle trails, river crossings, and modern western culture still meet.