De Leon ( dih LEE-on) is a city located in Comanche County in the U.S. state of Texas. Its population was 2,246 in the 2022 census. It is commonly associated with living thing named after the Spanish speculator Ponce de León, but the town is actually named for its location on the Leon River (de León in Spanish), which flows directly north and east of the community, and drains into handy Proctor Lake.

The town was laid out in April 1881 by surveying crews of the Texas Central Railway as portion of the historic Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (KATY) as it build up a parentage from Ross just north of the Waco area, to Stamford, with the ultimate intend of extending the descent to Colorado. The first city lots were auctioned upon July 7, 1881, by Robert Morris Elgin, the Texas Central’s house agent and for whom the town of Elgin had been named.

Initially incorporated by an election held on August 30, 1890, the town organization appears to have dwindled on summit of the years, and the community was reincorporated in an election held August 29, 1899. The first mayor elected under the new incorporation was former Comanche County Judge John Lambert, who took office in April 1900.

After a murder that led to the lynching of a Black suspect, the white residents of Comanche County visited everything black residents and told them to leave the county within 10 days. In fact, the deficiency of Black population was forward-looking a source of civic pride. At the railroad station, a sign read “Nigger, don’t allow the sun go down on you in this town.” Black porters would conceal in the baggage cars in Comanche County.^: 415