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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

Denton County, Texas

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

County Seat: Denton
Year Organized: 1846
Square Miles: 888

Court House:

110 West Hickory Street
County Courthouse
Denton, TX 76201-4116

Etymology - Origin of County Name

John Bunyan Denton, a preacher, lawyer, and soldier killed during a raid on a Native American camp

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Denton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. The county seat is Denton. The county and the city are both named for John B. Denton, who was a preacher, lawyer, and soldier.

In 1846, the Texas legislature formed Denton County out of what had been a much larger Fannin County. It was named for John Bunyan Denton,^qv an eastern Fannin County Methodist preacher and lawyer, who was killed in a raid against Indians in northern Tarrant County on May 22, 1841. A county seat, named Pinckneyville, was located near the center of the county, at a spot about a mile southeast of the present center of Denton. Although county officials were elected in 1846, no courthouse was built, and less than two years later a site named Alton, three or four miles to the southeast, was made county seat. Because water was not readily available, in 1850 the legislature allowed Alton to be moved about two miles south to Alexander Cannon's homestead near Hickory Creek. A log courthouse, the first in the county, was built there. Alton soon had stores, residences, and a hotel and was a regular stage stop. In the summer of 1856, however, county residents voted to establish a new county seat near the center of the county on a 100-acre tract donated by Hiram Cisco, William Loving, and William Woodruff. The new town, named Denton, was established the next year, but was not incorporated as a city until 1866.

More at Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. "," http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/DD/hcd6.html (accessed November 5, 2008).

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 958 square miles (2,481 km²), of which, 889 square miles (2,301 km²) of it is land and 69 square miles (180 km²) of it (7.24%) is water.

Denton County sits atop a portion of the Barnett Shale, a geological formation believed to contain large quantities of natural gas. The County has benefited from tax revenue related to gas drilling and production, though complaints have arisen that many of the rural roads in the area (which were never designed to handle the heavy equipment used in gas drilling) have been destroyed by drilling companies.

Neighboring Counties:

Cooke County (north)
Grayson County (northeast)
Collin County (east)
Dallas County (southeast)
Tarrant County (south)
Wise County (west)

Cities and Towns:

- Argyle	city	Incorporated Area
- Aubrey	city	Incorporated Area
- Bartonville	town	Incorporated Area
- Carrollton	city	Incorporated Area
- Copper Canyon	town	Incorporated Area
- Corinth	city	Incorporated Area
- Corral City	town	Incorporated Area
- Denton (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Double Oak	town	Incorporated Area
- Flower Mound	town	Incorporated Area
- Hackberry	town	Incorporated Area
- Hebron	town	Incorporated Area
- Hickory Creek	town	Incorporated Area
- Highland Village	city	Incorporated Area
- Justin	city	Incorporated Area
- Krugerville	city	Incorporated Area
- Krum	city	Incorporated Area
- Lake Dallas	city	Incorporated Area
- Lakewood Village	city	Incorporated Area
- Lewisville	city	Incorporated Area
- Lincoln Park	town	Incorporated Area
- Little Elm	town	Incorporated Area
- Marshall Creek	town	Incorporated Area
- Northlake	town	Incorporated Area
- Oak Point	city	Incorporated Area
- Pilot Point	city	Incorporated Area
- Ponder	town	Incorporated Area
- Princeton	city	Incorporated Area
- Roanoke	city	Incorporated Area
- Sanger	city	Incorporated Area
- Shady Shores	town	Incorporated Area
- The Colony	city	Incorporated Area
- Trophy Club	town	Incorporated Area
- Westlake	town	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resource Guide

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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