Spanish explorers encountered bands of Payaya, Pastia, and other Coahuiltecan Indians living in the area of present-day Von Ormy.

During the 18th century, Lipan Apache and Comanche displaced the earlier native peoples along the Medina River valley.

European settlers, initially Franciscan missionaries and Spanish and mestizo soldiers, arrived in the region in the early 18th century, intent on subduing and proselytizing the natives.

Manuel Ruiz de Pesia founded the earliest known cattle ranch in present-day Von Ormy in the mid-1760s.

By the early 19th century, Von Ormy was an established community, serving as the crossing point of the Medina along the Camino Real.

During the War for Texas Independence, Santa Anna (now the Mexican president and general-in-chief) camped in the future site of the town prior to making his final march on the Alamo.

[citation needed] Blas María Herrera, sometimes referred to as the "Paul Revere of Texas," rode his horse from Laredo to San Antonio to warn the town of Santa Anna's approach.

In 1866, it was rebuilt by Bishop Odin of Galveston as Santisima Trinidad Mission and was located at Garza's Crossing on the Medina River.

Von Ormy in 1861 was settled mainly by German and Mexican Catholics, who largely opposed secession and supported Sam Houston's Union Democrat ticket.

A company of Texas state troops was permanently encamped in Von Ormy during the war to patrol and protect San Antonio from Comanche raids.

Leading up to the Civil War, San Antonio merchant Enoch Jones, who was then the wealthiest man in Texas, acquired one of the overlapping land grants on the south bank of the Medina River.

Jones opposed secession and believed that his political views would hurt sales at his general store in Main Plaza, so he sold it and dedicated the remainder of his life to building the Castle on the Medina.

Most of the land in the Von Ormy area was sold off to pay debts, but Elizabeth Jones and her sister lived in the Castle until the mid-1880s.

Cattle drives originating in South Texas drew a new wave of immigrants from northern Mexico, which was then experiencing its own war.

Families such as the Flores, Vara, and Reyes arrived during this era from Coahuila, originally as cowboys and ranch hands.

During this early era of post-Reconstruction Jim Crow laws, he was the only Hispanic judge and commissioner in Bexar County.

He registered a cattle brand at the Bexar County Courthouse and was often cited in the San Antonio Evening Light's gossip page.

The International–Great Northern Railroad built a rail line on the western edge of the Francisco A. Ruiz Ranch in 1886 and renamed the town "Medina Station".

To pursue this community desire, the Committee to Incorporate Von Ormy (CIVO), a Texas nonprofit association, was organized.

CIVO received written endorsements of County Judge Nelson Wolff, County Commissioner "Chico" Rodriguez, Congressman Ciro Rodriguez, State Rep. David McQuade Leibowitz, State Sen. Carlos Uresti, and San Antonio City Councilman Phil Cortez.

On January 31, 2008, the San Antonio City Council passed a resolution to allow Von Ormy to hold an election on incorporation.

[23] Von Ormy lies along the Medina River at the crossing point of the historic Upper Laredo Camino Real.