IONI, TEXAS (Palo Pinto County). Ioni (Ione), on Ioni Creek, is a rural community in a valley of the Palo Pinto Mountains on State Highway 16 and U.S. Highway 180 in western Palo Pinto County. The community was probably named for the nearby Ioni Falls or for the Ioni Indians who inhabited the area in the mid-nineteenth century. Pioneer rancher and surveyor J. J. Metcalf and his son William were probably the first settlers of the community. The 1936 county highway map indicated a number of scattered residences, one business, and a cemetery at the site. In 1950 Ioni residents lived in scattered ranches and small farms.