Sixty miles north of the geographic center of the State of Texas and 125 miles northwest of the center of population, it is situated on the divide between the Clear Fork of the Brazos River and the Leon River with part of the drainage going to each stream. The city rests on a slight elevation which accounts for the absence of unhealthy lowlands.
In 1879 a Baptist preacher by the name of Stevens established a community -- a tiny western trading post, which later developed into a little town with a church, a school, a store, and a postoffice located between two large clay hills about a mile west of the present city limits of Cisco. It came to be known as Red Gap, a riot of colorful western action, with all the cow range trimmings.
Red Gap attracted some 350 people and it boasted six saloons.
In 1879 Rev. C. G. Stevens established the first postoffice at a passway in the hills. The building was of logs and had two stories, of three rooms. Several weeks later a floorless log schoolhouse, with but one small window, was built. Mrs. Colistie Green, one of the few pioneers who had settled there, voluntarily agreed to teach the school, at a wage of one dollar for each student who enrolled.