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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

Irion County, Texas

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

County Seat: Mertzon
Year Organized: 1889
Square Miles: 1,052

Court House:

209 Park View
County Courthouse
Mertzon, TX 76941-0770

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Robert Anderson Irion, a secretary of state in the Republic of Texas

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Irion County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. Its county seat is Mertzon. The county is named for Robert Anderson Irion, a secretary of state of the Republic of Texas.

Cattle and sheep thrived on the well-watered range. John Arden brought the first flock of sheep from California in 1876, and in 1880 the 7D Ranch was established by Billy Childress with longhorn cattle^qv from Atascosa County. Beginning in the 1880s a few pioneer farmers built small irrigation^qv systems, and several ranchmen planted hay and grain. Underground water resources were tapped with windmill-driven pumps; the first cotton crop was planted in 1886 by W. H. White. In 1889 the Texas legislature formed Irion County from Tom Green County, and that same year the county was organized with Sherwood county seat. By 1890, 118 farms and ranches, encompassing 193,000 acres, had been established in the county. Though fourteen of these were larger than 1,000 acres, many were relatively small holdings; the average size was 1,627 acres. Nevertheless, ranching^qv dominated the local economy; almost 64,000 cattle and over 42,000 sheep were reported in the county that year, when only 218 acres was planted in corn (the county's most important crop) and fourteen in cotton. The United States census counted 870 residents that year. By 1900 the number of farms and ranches declined to fifty-two, and the population dropped to 848

More at Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. "," http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/II/hci1.html (accessed November 6, 2008).

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,052 square miles (2,724 km²), virtually all of which is land.

Neighboring Counties:

Tom Green County (north and east)
Schleicher County (southeast)
Crockett County (southwest)
Reagan County (west)

Cities and Towns:

- Mertzon (County Seat)

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."