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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

Jones County, Texas

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

County Seat: Anson
Year Organized: 1881
Square Miles: 931

Court House:

P.O. Box 552
County Courthouse
Anson, TX 79501-0552

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Anson Jones, the fifth president of the Republic of Texas

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Jones County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. Its county seat is Anson. Both the county and its county seat are named for Anson Jones, the fifth president of the Republic of Texas

In the years before Anglo settlement, several nomadic groups roamed the area that would eventually become Jones County, including the Comanche, Kiowa, and Tonkawa Indians. Caddos and Delawares camped along the Clear Fork, and Wichitas occasionally hunted in the area. Large herds of bison provided food and other necessities for these Indian groups. The earliest white settlement of Jones County was in 1851 when Fort Phantom Hill, near the site of present Hawley, was established as one of a line of forts from the Red River to the Rio Grande. These military outposts guarded the frontier and furnished protection to Forty-niners following the Randolph B. Marcy^qv trail across Texas. Supplies were hauled from Austin. The fort was abandoned in 1854, and in 1858 the location was made a station on the Butterfield Overland Mail^qv route from St. Louis to San Francisco. Jones County was established on February 1, 1858, from Bexar and Bosque counties. During the Civil War^qv Indian raids forced the frontier back to the east, and the area was not settled for another fifteen years. In 1872 the military post was reestablished, and a settlement was made on a stream four miles distant. The actions of Ranald S. Mackenzie^qv and federal troops removed the Indian threat in the mid-1870s. Buffalo hunters were followed by bone haulers, and the last buffalo was seen in the county in 1879. Owners of herds of longhorn cattle^qv moved in to take advantage of the grass-covered range. In 1873 Creed, John, and Emmett Roberts and Mode and J. G. Johnson established ranches in the area of Fort Phantom Hill. Other early ranches included the T-Diamond, established in 1876, and the Ericsdale Ranch of the Swenson Land and Cattle Company, established in 1882 (see SMS RANCHES). In 1880 John Merchant built a mesquite corral at the site of the future county seat, and Henry Foster put up the first wire fence in the county. The population of Jones County reached 546 that year, and when the county was organized in 1881 Jones City was declared the county seat. In 1882 the name of the county seat was changed to Anson.

More at Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. "," http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/JJ/hcj9.html (accessed November 6, 2008).

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 937 square miles (2,427 km²), of which, 931 square miles (2,411 km²) of it is land and 6 square miles (16 km²) of it (0.66%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Haskell County (north)
Shackelford County (east)
Callahan County (southeast)
Taylor County (south)
Fisher County (west)
Stonewall County (northwest)

Cities and Towns:

- Anson (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Hamlin	city	Incorporated Area
- Hawley	city	Incorporated Area
- Lueders	city	Incorporated Area
- Stamford	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."