Kendall County, Texas

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

Etymology - Origin of County Name

George Wilkins Kendall, an early journalist and sheep rancher

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Kendall County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. Its seat is Boerne. The county is named for George Wilkins Kendall, a journalist and Mexican-American War correspondent.

Most of the Kendall County area was part of the Bexar County established by the Republic of Texas^qv in 1836; it later became part of Kerr County, which was separated from Bexar in 1856. Comfort served as county seat of Kerr County for two years before Kendall County was formed. In 1859 residents of Boerne and Sisterdale petitioned the legislature for a new county; the legislature granted the petition in 1862, and the new county, carved from Kerr and Blanco counties, was named in honor of George Wilkins Kendall.^qv The first Kendall County officials were elected later that year, and Boerne was chosen as the county seat. The earliest schools in the area were private institutions that met in someone's home or in donated space. The first public schools were organized at Comfort in 1856 and at Boerne in 1857. Although the legislature had authorized a district system in 1854, the system was not put into effect before the 1870s or 1880s. Shortly after 1900 Kendall County had twenty-two common school districts. It was not until the 1930s and 1940s that improved transportation made large-scale consolidation of schools into independent school districts possible. Until the mid-twentieth century extensive schooling was for many children a luxury that took second place to their duties on the family farm, and drop-out rates were high. As late as 1940 less than 9 percent of the population over the age of twenty-five had completed high school. The percentage of residents who finished school began to rise as the job market in nearby San Antonio expanded. By 1960, 20 percent were high school graduates, and by 1980 the number represented nearly 65 percent of the population over twenty-five. Religious development in the county was fairly slow. Many of the early German immigrants were "freethinkers"^qv and were not particularly receptive to organized religion. In the 1840s and 1850s a priest from the cathedral in San Antonio traveled to the area occasionally to provide services to those people who wanted them. A priest was assigned to Boerne in 1860, but because of local sentiment, built his church on a hill outside the town. As more people moved into the area, however, more churches were established. A Methodist congregation was organized in the mid-1870s, an Episcopal church in 1881, and a Lutheran church in 1891. In the early 1980s the county's fifteen churches had an estimated combined membership of 5,514; Catholic, Southern Baptist, and American Lutheran were the largest denominations

More at Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. "," http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/KK/hck3.html (accessed November 6, 2008).

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 663 square miles (1,717 km²), of which, 662 square miles (1,716 km²) of it is land and 1 square miles (2 km²) of it (0.09%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

• Gillespie County (north)
• Blanco County (northeast)
• Comal County (southeast)
• Bexar County (south)
• Bandera County (southwest)
• Kerr County (west)

Cities and Towns:

County Resources:

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