Hico (pronounced "high-coe") is a small city in Hamilton County in Northern Central Texas. The population was 1,341 at the 2000 census. The town motto is "Where Everybody Is Somebody!" The county seat is Hamilton some twenty miles to the south on United States Highway 281. Hico was named by its founder for his unincorporated hometown in Calloway County in southwestern Kentucky near Murray, just north of the Tennessee state boundary. The original site was on Honey Creek, but when the Texas Central Railroad was built nearby, the citizens moved two-and-a half miles to the rail line. Hico was incorporated in 1883 and became the Hamilton County shipping center. Over the years, it became a cattle and cotton market. Today ranching and tourism dominate.