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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

Bexar County, Texas

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

County Seat: San Antonio
Year Organized: 1835
Square Miles: 1,247

Court House:

100 Dolorosa Street
County Courthouse
San Antonio, TX 78205-3038

Etymology - Origin of County Name

San Antonio de Béjar, the capital of Mexican Texas and present-day San Antonio, Texas, in turn named for Saint Anthony and the Duke of Béjar, brother of the Spanish viceroy, who had died in 1686 defending Budapest from the Ottoman Empire

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

Bexar County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. Its county seat is San Antonio. In Spanish, "Béxar" is pronounced [ˈbehaɾ]; however, in English it is pronounced /ˈbɛr/ "bear".

Bexar County was created on December 20, 1836, and encompassed almost the entire western portion of the Republic of Texas, including the disputed areas of western New Mexico northward to Wyoming. After statehood, 128 counties were carved out of its area.

The county gets its name from San Antonio de Béxar, one of the twenty-three municipalities (administrative divisions) of Texas at the time of its independence. San Antonio de Béxar - originally Villa of San Fernando de Béxar - was the first civil government established in the Spanish province of Texas. Specifically, the municipality was created in 1731 when fifty-five Canary Islanders settled near the system of missions that had been established around the source of the San Antonio River. The new settlement was named after the Presidio San Antonio de Béxar, the Spanish military outpost that protected the missions. The presidio, located at the San Pedro Springs, was founded in 1718 and named for Viceroy Balthasar Manuel de Zúñiga y Guzmán Sotomayor y Sarmiento, second son of the Duke of Béxar (a city in Spain).

The newly formed Bexar County covered much of the western edge of settlement in Texas. During the late Mexican period, Texas had been divided into four departments, with the department of Bexar stretching from the Rio Grande to the Panhandle^qv and as far west as El Paso. With the winning of Texas independence, the departments became counties, and on December 20, 1836, Bexar County was established, with San Antonio as county seat. Since 1860, when the partitioning of Bexar County began, 128 counties have been carved from the original county, leaving the present county at 1,248 square miles.

More at Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. "," http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/BB/hcb7.html (accessed November 4, 2008).

Geography

Bexar County is located in south-central Texas, about 190 miles (305 km) west of Houston and 140 miles (225 km) inland from the Gulf of Mexico.

The Balcones Escarpment bisects the county from west to northeast; to the north of the escarpment are the rocky hills, springs and canyons of the Texas Hill Country. South of the escarpment are Blackland Prairie and the South Texas plains. The San Antonio River rises from springs north of downtown San Antonio, and flows southward and southeastward through the county.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,257 square miles (3,255 km²), of which, 1,247 square miles (3,229 km²) of it is land and 10 square miles (25 km²) of it (0.78%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Kendall County (north)
Comal County (north)
Guadalupe County (northeast)
Wilson County (southeast)
Atascosa County (south)
Medina County (west)
Bandera County (northwest)

Cities and Towns:

- Alamo Heights	city	Incorporated Area
- Balcones Heights	city	Incorporated Area
- Boerne	city	Incorporated Area
- Castle Hills	city	Incorporated Area
- China Grove	town	Incorporated Area
- Converse	city	Incorporated Area
- Elmendorf	city	Incorporated Area
- Fair Oaks Ranch	city	Incorporated Area
- Grey Forest	city	Incorporated Area
- Helotes	city	Incorporated Area
- Hill Country Village	city	Incorporated Area
- Hollywood Park	town	Incorporated Area
- Kirby	city	Incorporated Area
- Leon Valley	city	Incorporated Area
- Live Oak	city	Incorporated Area
- Olmos Park	city	Incorporated Area
- San Antonio (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Shavano Park	city	Incorporated Area
- Somerset	city	Incorporated Area
- St. Hedwig	town	Incorporated Area
- Terrell Hills	city	Incorporated Area
- Universal City	city	Incorporated Area
- Windcrest	city	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

Online High Schools

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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