The Edwards Plateau of southwest Texas has long been tied to the state's sheep and goat industries, which were introduced by Spanish explorers and late-19th-century colonists and became important parts of the local economy. In 1869, rancher Phillip Palmer brought the first sheep to the Fort Clark area and expanded his operation to nearly 9,000 sheep, and within a few years Charles Dissler began Val Verde County's goat industry with animals brought from Kimble County. In 1915, ranchers met in Del Rio to organize the Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers' Association in response to a wave of stock thefts. The meeting at the Princess Theater on this city block was called by J.B. Murrah, Johnson Robinson, E.E. Sticklen, V.A. Brown, and B.M. Halbert; sixty stockmen attended, thirty signed the charter, and the group was first named the Sheep and Goat Raiser's Association of Texas. Members chose Murrah of Del Rio as the first president and Julian Lacross of Del Rio as secretary-treasurer. The headquarters moved to San Angelo in the 1930s, and after a split that created the rival Texas Wool and Mohair Growers Association, the two groups merged in 1935 as the Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers' Association, pursuing a statewide agenda of advocacy, research, and promotion. The association remains an important trade organization and political force, with headquarters in San Angelo, now more central to Texas' sheep and goat industries.