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Texas Counties

Texas is divided into 254 counties, more than any other U.S. state Texas was originally divided into municipalities, a unit of local government under Spanish and Mexican rule. When the Republic of Texas gained its independence in 1836, there were 23 municipalities, which became the original Texas counties. Many of these would later be divided into new counties. The most recent county to be created was Kenedy County in 1921. The most recent county to be organized was Loving County in 1931

Anderson County, Texas

Anderson County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Palestine
Year Organized: 1846
Square Miles: 1,071

Court House:

500 N. Church Street
County Courthouse
Palestine, TX 75801-2968

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Kenneth Lewis Anderson, the last vice president of the Republic of Texas

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

Anderson county was organized in 1846, and is named in honor of Kenneth L. Anderson who had been Vice President of the Republic of Texas.

After the removal of the Indians in the 1840s, settlement proceeded rapidly until the area had sufficient inhabitants to form a new county. In response to a petition presented by settlers at and around Fort Houston, the First Legislature of the state of Texas formed Anderson County from Houston County on March 24, 1846. A suggestion was made that the new county be called Burnet in honor of David G. Burnet. The county was named Anderson, however, after Kenneth Lewis Anderson,^qv a prominent member of Congress and the last vice president of the Republic of Texas.^qv Fort Houston was two miles from the center of the county, so a committee, composed of Dan Lumpkin, William Turner Sadler,^qv and John Parker was appointed to lay out the site for and name a new county seat. They chose a 100-acre tract in the center of the county. The Parkers had come from Palestine, Crawford County, Illinois, and upon their suggestion, the new county seat was named Palestine.

More at Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. "," http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/AA/hca1.html (accessed November 4, 2008).

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,078 square miles (2,792 km²), of which, 1,071 square miles (2,773 km²) of it is land and 7 square miles (19 km²) of it (0.66%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Henderson County (north)
Cherokee County (east)
Houston County (south)
Leon County (southwest)
Freestone County (west)

Cities and Towns:

- Berryville	town	Incorporated Area
- Coffee City	town	Incorporated Area
- Elkhart	town	Incorporated Area
- Frankston	town	Incorporated Area
- Palestine (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resource Guide

Counties: US Map

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of our country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."

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