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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

Collin County, Texas

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

County Seat: McKinney
Year Organized: 1846
Square Miles: 848

Court House:

210 McDonald Street
County Courthouse
McKinney, TX 75069-7602

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Collin McKinney, an author of the Texas Declaration of Independence and its oldest signer (age 70 when he signed it), and early settler in the county

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

Collin County is a suburban county located in the U.S. state of Texas. Its seat is McKinney. The county and its seat are both named in honor of Collin McKinney, one of the five men who drafted the Texas Declaration of Independence and the oldest of the 59 men who signed it.

Branches of the Caddo Indians inhabited the area before the arrival of the first white settlers. Occasional outbreaks of violence occurred between the two groups, but there was no extended period of conflict since the Caddos withdrew from the county by the mid-1850s. The absence of organized Indian resistance, combined with the county's fertile soil and an offer of land grants by the Peters colony^qv attracted settlers to the area in the early 1840s. Even with the offer of free land, the estimated population of the county was only 150 when it was demarked from Fannin County on April 3, 1846, and named for Collin McKinney,^qv one of the first settlers of the county and a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence.^qv The original county seat was Buckner. Because this town Buckner was not within three miles of the center of the county, however, McKinney became the county seat in 1848. Like the county, McKinney was named for Collin McKinney.

More at Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. "," http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/CC/hcc16.html (accessed November 5, 2008).

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 886 square miles (2,294 km²), of which, 848 square miles (2,195 km²) of it is land and 38 square miles (99 km²) of it (4.32%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Grayson County (north)
Fannin County (northeast)
Hunt County (east)
Rockwall County (southeast)
Dallas County (south)
Denton County (west)

Cities and Towns:

- Allen	city	Incorporated Area
- Anna	city	Incorporated Area
- Blue Ridge	city	Incorporated Area
- Celina	town	Incorporated Area
- Dallas	city	Incorporated Area
- Fairview	town	Incorporated Area
- Farmersville	city	Incorporated Area
- Frisco	city	Incorporated Area
- Josephine	city	Incorporated Area
- Lavon	town	Incorporated Area
- Lowry Crossing	city	Incorporated Area
- Lucas	city	Incorporated Area
- McKinney (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Melissa	city	Incorporated Area
- Murphy	city	Incorporated Area
- Nevada	city	Incorporated Area
- New Hope	town	Incorporated Area
- Parker	city	Incorporated Area
- Plano	city	Incorporated Area
- Princeton	city	Incorporated Area
- Prosper	town	Incorporated Area
- St. Paul	town	Incorporated Area
- Westminster	city	Incorporated Area
- Weston	city	Incorporated Area
- Wylie	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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