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Zavala
Texas Counties
 Click Image to Enlarge Texas CountiesTexas 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 |
Williamson County, TexasWilliamson County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education
Etymology - Origin of County NameRobert McAlpin Williamson, a leader and veteran of the Battle of San Jacinto Demographics:County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts County HistoryWilliamson County (known colloquially as "Willco") is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. Its county seat is Georgetown. The county is named for Robert McAlpin Williamson, a leader and veteran of the Battle of San Jacinto Anglo settlement began during the Texas Revolution and the early days of the Republic of Texas,qv when the area was part of Milam County. In 1835, in an attempt to strengthen the frontier against Indian attack, a military post was built near the headwaters of Brushy Creek in what would become southwestern Williamson County and was named for Capt. John J. Tumlinson, Jr.,qv the commander of the company of Texas Rangersqv who garrisoned the post. The post was abandoned in February of 1836, when its garrison was withdrawn to deal with the Mexican invasion. In 1838 the first civilian settlement was established by a Dr. Thomas Kenney and a party of settlers who built a fort, named Kenney's Fort, on Brushy Creek near the site of the present-day crossing of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad. Several other sites on Brushy Creek were settled soon after, but Indian raids kept white settlement in check, and a number of the early pioneers, including Kenney, were killed by Indians over the next few years. In 1842 many of the early farms were abandoned when Governor Sam Houstonqv advised settlers to pull back from the frontier. The Indian threat eased after 1846, and part of the influx of settlers who came to Texas after its annexationqv traveled to the frontier along Brushy Creek and the San Gabriel River. By 1848 there were at least 250 settlers in what was then western Milam County, and in the early months of that year 107 of them signed a petition to organize a new county. Recognizing that the petitioners needed a seat of local government that was considerably closer to them than Milam County's, the Texas legislature established Williamson County on March 13, 1848, naming it for prominent judge and soldier Robert M. Williamson.qv Georgetown, the county seat, was laid out during the summer of that year, and the district court was in session by October. According to the census of 1850 Williamson County had a population of 1,379 whites and 155 slaves, living in agricultural communities on Brushy Creek and the San Gabriel. As was common in other frontier counties, most of the improved acreage was used to grow corn. Three families owned fifteen or more slaves in 1850, but family farms and subsistence agriculture remained the norm prior to the Civil War.qv While most of the settlers had moved to Texas from other southern states, particularly Tennessee, a substantial contingent came from Vermilion County in Illinois, and this latter group remained pro-Union and Republican in its political orientation during the secessionqv crisis. More at Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. "," http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/WW/hcw11.html (accessed November 9, 2008). GeographyAccording to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,135 square miles (2,939 kmē), of which,
1,123 square miles (2,908 kmē) of it is land and 12 square miles (31 kmē) of it (1.05%) is water. Western parts of
the county are considered to be within the eastern fringes of Texas Hill Country and offer residents and visitors
with rolling, open lands and an abundance of Texas Live Oak, Prickly Pear Cactus and Karst topography. Eastern parts
of the county consist of flatter, more fertile lands for agriculture but are quickly being developed as the county's
population continues to increase and expand out. Neighboring Counties:
Cities and Towns:
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." |
