[3][4] Bandera County is part of the San Antonio-New Braunfels metropolitan statistical area.

The county is officially recognized as the "Cowboy Capital of the World" by the Texas Legislature.

[6] In 1841, John Coffee Hays and a troop of Texas Rangers defeated a large party of Comanche warriors, thereby pacifying the region in what became known as the Battle of Bandera Pass.

[7][8][9] In 1853, John James and Charles S. DeMontel survey and plan the town of Bandera, which facilitates settlement by A. M. Milstead, Thomas Odem, P.D.

[10] James, Montel and Company build a horse-powered sawmill and open a store within a year.

[6][11] In the wake of successive national insurrections crushed by Prussia, Austria and Russia, 16 Polish families arrive in Bandera in 1855 and begin working in James and DeMontel's sawmill.

In 1920, Cora and Ed Buck launch Bandera's tourist industry by taking boarders at their ranch,[12][13] and by 1933, Frontier Times Museum opens to the public.

[14][15] During the last 30 years of the 20th century, with an estimated 80% of its land dedicated to farming and ranching industries, the county government facilitates three major actions to preserve its natural heritage: the Lost Maples State Natural Area opens to the public in 1979,[16] the Hill Country State Natural Area[17] opens to the public in 1984,[18] and the Nature Conservancy purchases 1,400 acres (5.7 km2) of the Love Creek Ranch[19] from Baxter and Carol Adams to create the Love Creek Preserve in 2000.

[21] Bandera County is a part of the Greater San Antonio area and is located on the Edwards Plateau.