The county is named for Henry Alexander Wise, a U.S. congressman from Virginia who supported Texas’ annexation. The county is also considered part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Wise Eyes crime watch program, eventually adopted by mostly rural counties in several states, was started in 1993 by then-Sheriff Phil Ryan. Wise County is only one of several counties in the U.S. to have multiple, family-oriented naturist resorts.