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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

Travis County, Texas

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

County Seat: Austin
Year Organized: 1840
Square Miles: 989

Court House:

314 W. 11th Street
Austin, TX 78701-0000

Etymology - Origin of County Name

William Barret Travis, the commander of the Texian forces at the Alamo

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Travis County is located in the U.S. state of Texas. I Its county seat is Austin, the capital of Texas. The county is named in honor of William Barret Travis, the commander of the Republic of Texas forces at the Battle of the Alamo.

Settlement resumed after the revolution, but it proceeded slowly because of the constant threat of raids by the Comanche Indians. During the 1830s a chain of small forts ranged from Bastrop northwest along Wilbarger's Bend, Coleman Branch, Webber's Prairie, and Gilleland Creek, to Fort Colorado or Fort Prairie, five miles east of the site of present Austin. In June 1835 Thomas Jefferson Chambers^qv surveyed part of an eight-league grant covering the present site of Austin and the Capitol.^qv Sometime before 1837 William Barton^qv settled near the springs that were to bear his name. In 1837 or 1838 President Mirabeau B. Lamar^qv was on a buffalo hunt in the area and commented on its possibilities as a site for the permanent capital. In 1838 the community of Waterloo (Austin) consisted of four families; about twenty families established homes at nearby Montopolis in 1839. When the Congress of the Republic of Texas^qv chose Waterloo as the site of the new capital, opponents were quick to point out the disadvantages: the site's proximity to the frontier, the lack of timber, the poor soil, and the threat of Indian raids. In spite of this opposition, however, the new capital—renamed Austin in honor of Stephen F. Austin—was approved on January 19, 1840. A few days later the Congress established Travis County, naming it in honor of William Barret Travis^qv and making Austin its county seat. An election for county officials was held in February 1840, at which time the population was reported to be 856. The initial boundaries of Travis County included roughly 40,000 square miles. Counties that were later carved from Travis County include Callahan (1858), Coleman (1858), Comal (1846), Gillespie (1848), Hays (1848), Burnet (1852), Brown (1856), Lampasas (1856), Eastland (1858), Runnels (1858), and Taylor (1858). Sam Houston^qv moved the government of the Republic of Texas from Austin to Houston when Mexican troops invaded San Antonio in March 1842. When he tried to have the government archives removed as well, Austin citizens resisted with the Archives War.^qv The Texas Congress held sessions at Washington-on-the-Brazos from 1842 to 1845, but the convention that drafted the Constitution of 1845^qv met in Austin in July 1845, and by October the rest of the government had returned to the capital city. The first legislature of the new state convened in Austin in February 1846.

More at Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. "," http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/TT/hct8.html (accessed November 9, 2008).

Geography

Travis County is in Central Texas, about 75 miles northeast of San Antonio and 150 miles west of Houston. The Colorado River flows through Travis County, and three of the Texas Highland Lakes (Lake Travis, Lake Austin and Lady Bird Lake) are located there.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,022 square miles (2,647 km²). 989 square miles (2,562 km²) are land and 33 square miles (85 km²) (3.21%) are water.

Neighboring Counties:

Williamson County (north)
Bastrop County (east)
Caldwell County (south)
Hays County (southwest)
Blanco County (west)
Burnet County (northwest)

Cities and Towns:

- Austin (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Briarcliff	village	Incorporated Area
- Creedmoor	city	Incorporated Area
- Jonestown	city	Incorporated Area
- Lago Vista	city	Incorporated Area
- Lakeway	city	Incorporated Area
- Leander	city	Incorporated Area
- Manor	city	Incorporated Area
- Mustang Ridge	city	Incorporated Area
- Pflugerville	city	Incorporated Area
- Rollingwood	city	Incorporated Area
- San Leanna	village	Incorporated Area
- Sunset Valley	city	Incorporated Area
- The Hills	village	Incorporated Area
- Webberville	village	Incorporated Area
- West Lake Hills	city	Incorporated Area
- Westlake	town	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."