Leakey, Texas, Frio Canyon Gateway

Leakey, pronounced "LAY-key," is the seat of Real County, tucked into the Frio Canyon of the Texas Hill Country where the Frio River runs clear and cold over limestone. John Leakey was among the first Anglo settlers in the canyon, arriving in eighteen fifty-six and establishing a homestead near a spring. A post office in his name was formally recognized in eighteen eighty-three.

When Real County was carved out of Edwards, Bandera, and Kerr counties by the Texas Legislature in nineteen thirteen, Leakey was elected county seat after a disputed vote. The limestone courthouse built in nineteen eighteen still stands. Today Leakey is a destination for river tubing, cypress-shaded camps, and Hill Country motorcyclists who follow US Eighty-Three through the switchbacks of the canyon, one of the most scenic drives in Texas.