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Texas Counties

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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

Colorado County, Texas

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

County Seat: Columbus
Year Organized: 1836
Square Miles: 963

Court House:

P.O. Box 236
County Courthouse
Columbus, TX 78934-0236

Etymology - Origin of County Name

the Colorado River. The Colorado River, which means "colored red", was frequently confused by Spanish explorers with the Brazos River to the north. It is this confusion as well as an alleged mapping error that is believed to have led to its misnaming.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Colorado County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. Its county seat is Columbus. Colorado is named for the Colorado River of Texas.

Colorado County, one of the original counties of the Republic of Texas,^qv was formed in 1836 and organized in 1837, the first district court being held by Robert M. Williamson^qv in April 1837 at Columbus, the county seat. By 1840 there were 249 heads of families and 319 slaves in the county. A German settlement grew up around the community of Frelsburg around 1839, and the first German university in the state, Hermann University, was chartered there in 1844. Men from Colorado County made up most of Company E, First Texas Mounted Riflemen, during the Mexican War.^qv Cotton and corn were the main crops grown in the 1840s. Among the more notable plantations in the county was that of Robert Robson, who arrived from Dumfries, Scotland, about 1839 and built a concrete castle of homemade lime and gravel on his estate on the south bank of the Colorado River. The castle, surrounded by a moat crossed by a drawbridge, was probably the first building in Texas to have running water, and was a center of social life for the local planters. A steamboat, the Flying Jenny, ran from the castle up the Colorado to Austin. The county was heavily dependent on the river for transporting its crops in the 1840s and 1850s. Keelboats and flatboats operated in the early years of the county, and by the 1840s the Moccasin Belle and other steamboats carried cotton from the county to Matagorda. Water traffic was heavy until the Colorado became too blocked by a raft of floating and sunken timber. Railroads^qv displaced river navigation^qv after the Civil War.^qv

More at Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. "," http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/CC/hcc18.html (accessed November 5, 2008).

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 974 square miles (2,522 km²), of which, 963 square miles (2,494 km²) of it is land and 11 square miles (28 km²) of it (1.09%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Austin County (northeast)
Wharton County (southeast)
Jackson County (south)
Lavaca County (southwest)
Fayette County (northwest)

Cities and Towns:

- Columbus (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Eagle Lake	city	Incorporated Area
- Hillcrest	village	Incorporated Area
- Weimar	city	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resources

The history of our nation was a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names given the counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of this 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."