Limestone County, Texas

Limestone County, Texas
The Limestone County Courthouse in Groesbeck
Location in the U.S. state of Texas
Texas's location in the U.S.
Founded	1846
Seat	Groesbeck
Largest city	Mexia
Area
• Total	933 sq mi (2,416 km2)
• Land	905 sq mi (2,344 km2)
• Water	28 sq mi (73 km2), 3.0%
Population
• (2010)	23,384
• Density	26/sq mi (10/km²)
Congressional district	17th
Time zone	Central: UTC-6/-5
Website	www.co.limestone.tx.us

Limestone County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, the population was 23,384.^[1] Its county seat is Groesbeck.^[2] The county was created in 1846.^[3]

History

Native Americans

Indians friendly to the settlers resided in east Texas^[4] before the Kiowa, Apache and Comanche intruded upon their territory.^[5] These tribes hunted, farmed the land, and were adept traders. The Tawakoni^[6] branch of Wichita Indians originated north of Texas, but migrated south into east Texas. From 1843 onward, the Tawakoni were part of treaties made by both the Republic of Texas and the United States. Tawakoni were also sometimes known as Tehuacana. The Limestone County town of Tehuacana^[7][8] was settled on the former site of a Tehuacana village. The Waco people^[9] were also a branch of the Wichita Indians.

Fort Parker Massacre

Arguably the most infamous Indian depredation in Texas happened in Limestone County on May 19, 1836 when an odd alliance of Comanche, Kiowa, Caddo and Wichita approached Fort Parker surreptitiously under a flag of peace. The Indians subsequently attacked the fort, killing or kidnapping all but about 18 settlers who managed to escape to Fort Houston.^[10][11] Captured^[12] in the Fort Parker massacre were Elizabeth Kellogg,^[13] Rachel Plummer^[14] and her son James Pratt Plummer,^[15] John Richard Parker^[16] and his sister Cynthia Ann Parker, who later became mother of Comanche Chief Quanah Parker.^[17]

Settlers

Limestone County was part of the Haden Harrison Edwards (800 families) and Robertson's Colony (800 families) empresario grants^[18] made by the Coahuila y Texas (Texas is the old Spanish name (X had the sound of H, i.e., Mexia, Bexar, Mexico.) Tejas, though seldom used, is the modern spelling in Spanish.) legislature in 1825. By contracting how many families each grantee could settle, the government sought to have some control over colonization.

Baptist spiritual leader Daniel Parker^[19] and eight other men organized the Pilgrim Predestinarian Regular Baptist Church in Lamotte, Illinois. The fellowship in its entirety migrated in 1833 to the new frontier of Texas. Among this group of settlers were Silas M. Parker, Moses Herrin, Elisha Anglin, Luther T. M. Plummer, David Faulkenberry, Joshua Hadley, and Samuel Frost. Fort Parker, near the Navasota River in what is now central Limestone County, was the earliest actual settlement in the vicinity. Following on the heels of the original settlers, other communities were established.

County established

On April 11, 1846, Limestone County was formed from Robertson County. On August 18, 1846, the county was organized. Springfield became the county seat. The county seat was moved to Groesbeck in 1873 after boundary changes, and the Springfield courthouse being burned down.^[20]

Homesteaders became self-sustaining farmers and ranchers who supplemented the dinner table with wild game. Support businesses were connected to the repair and maintenance of farm equipment and livestock. The population of 1860 was 4,537. Of these, 3,464 were white, 1,072 were slaves, and one was a free black female.^[21]

Civil War and Reconstruction

Limestone County voted 525 -9 in favor of secession from the Union, and sent its men to fight for the Confederate States of America. Lochlin Johnson Farrar^[22] raised the first Confederate company from the county. Reconstruction in the county was so contentious, with racial violence and threats against the government, that on 9 Oct 1871, Texas Governor Edmund J. Davis^[23][24] declared the county under martial law.

Post Civil War development

The Houston and Texas Central Railway^[25] laid tracks in 1869, terminating near Kosse^[26] which was named after the railway's chief engineer Theodore Kosse. The Trinity and Brazos Valley Railway,^[27] laid track in 1903 from Cleburne to Mexia. Several towns were established on these routes.

The Thornton Institute was founded in 1877 by Edward Coke Chambers, and was chartered in 1881 as the Thornton Male and Female Institute. The school provided a type of dormitory for the students, and sent many graduates out to teach in rural Texas. Henry P. Davis acquired the school in 1889,^[28] and in 1891 the school was given to the Thornton^[29] Independent School District.

Oil Gas were discovered^[30] in Mexia^[31] between 1913 and 1920, creating jobs and a population boom - from just 3,482 people to 35,000 in 1922. Martial law had to be briefly declared in Mexia. The population began to decline during the Great Depression. Camp Mexia, a German prisoner of war camp^[32][33] was built during World War II.

The Work Projects Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps helped ease the county economy during the Great Depression. The Civilian Conservation Corps built Fort Parker State Recreation Area.^[34] The WPA erected a number of buildings in the county.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 933 square miles (2,420 km²), of which 905 square miles (2,340 km²) is land and 28 square miles (73 km²) (3.0%) is water.^[35]

Major highways

• U.S. Highway 84
• State Highway 7
• State Highway 14
• State Highway 164
• State Highway 171

Adjacent counties

• Navarro County (north)
• Freestone County (northeast)
• Leon County (southeast)
• Robertson County (south)
• Falls County (southwest)
• McLennan County (west)
• Hill County (northwest)

Demographics

As of the census^[39] of 2000, there were 22,051 people, 7,906 households, and 5,652 families residing in the county. The population density was 24 people per square mile (9/km²). There were 9,725 housing units at an average density of 11 per square mile (4/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 70.75% White, 19.07% Black or African American, 0.45% Native American, 0.12% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 8.10% from other races, and 1.49% from two or more races. 12.97% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 7,906 households out of which 32.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.00% were married couples living together, 13.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.50% were non-families. 25.60% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.80% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.55 and the average family size was 3.04.

In the county, the population was spread out with 25.40% under the age of 18, 9.10% from 18 to 24, 26.40% from 25 to 44, 22.70% from 45 to 64, and 16.40% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 103.20 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.80 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $29,366, and the median income for a family was $36,924. Males had a median income of $28,069 versus $18,893 for females. The per capita income for the county was $14,352. About 14.40% of families and 17.80% of the population were below the poverty line, including 22.90% of those under age 18 and 15.00% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

Cities

• Groesbeck (county seat)
• Mexia

Towns

• Coolidge
• Kosse
• Tehuacana
• Thornton

Unincorporated communities

• Ben Hur
• Buffalo Mop
• Forest Glade
• Prairie Hill
• Springfield

Notable residents

• Alfonso Steele (1817–1911) born in 1817 in Hardin County, Kentucky, and is buried in Mexia.^[40]
• Anna Nicole Smith (1967–2007) lived briefly in Mexia.
• Don the Beachcomber (1907–1989) born Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt in Limestone County.
• Bob Wills (1905-1975) Born on a farm in Kosse, in the southern portion of Limestone County. ^[41]

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Limestone County, Texas

References

External links

• Limestone County government's website
• Limestone County from the Handbook of Texas Online

	Hill County	Navarro County	Freestone County
	McLennan County
		Limestone County, Texas
	Falls County	Robertson County	Leon County

Municipalities and communities of Limestone County, Texas, United States
County seat: Groesbeck
Cities	Groesbeck Mart‡ Mexia
Towns	Coolidge Kosse Tehuacana Thornton
Unincorporated communities	Ben Hur Buffalo Mop Forest Glade Prairie Hill Springfield
Footnotes	‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties

Counties of Texas
Anderson Andrews Angelina Aransas Archer Armstrong Atascosa Austin Bailey Bandera Bastrop Baylor Bee Bell Bexar Blanco Borden Bosque Bowie Brazoria Brazos Brewster Briscoe Brooks Brown Burleson Burnet Caldwell Calhoun Callahan Cameron Camp Carson Cass Castro Chambers Cherokee Childress Clay Cochran Coke Coleman Collin Collingsworth Colorado Comal Comanche Concho Cooke Coryell Cottle Crane Crockett Crosby Culberson Dallam Dallas Dawson Deaf Smith Delta Denton DeWitt Dickens Dimmit Donley Duval Eastland Ector Edwards El Paso Ellis Erath Falls Fannin Fayette Fisher Floyd Foard Fort Bend Franklin Freestone Frio Gaines Galveston Garza Gillespie Glasscock Goliad Gonzales Gray Grayson Gregg Grimes Guadalupe Hale Hall Hamilton Hansford Hardeman Hardin Harris Harrison Hartley Haskell Hays Hemphill Henderson Hidalgo Hill Hockley Hood Hopkins Houston Howard Hudspeth Hunt Hutchinson Irion Jack Jackson Jasper Jeff Davis Jefferson Jim Hogg Jim Wells Johnson Jones Karnes Kaufman Kendall Kenedy Kent Kerr Kimble King Kinney Kleberg Knox La Salle Lamar Lamb Lampasas Lavaca Lee Leon Liberty Limestone Lipscomb Live Oak Llano Loving Lubbock Lynn Madison Marion Martin Mason Matagorda Maverick McCulloch McLennan McMullen Medina Menard Midland Milam Mills Mitchell Montague Montgomery Moore Morris Motley Nacogdoches Navarro Newton Nolan Nueces Ochiltree Oldham Orange Palo Pinto Panola Parker Parmer Pecos Polk Potter Presidio Rains Randall Reagan Real Red River Reeves Refugio Roberts Robertson Rockwall Runnels Rusk Sabine San Augustine San Jacinto San Patricio San Saba Schleicher Scurry Shackelford Shelby Sherman Smith Somervell Starr Stephens Sterling Stonewall Sutton Swisher Tarrant Taylor Terrell Terry Throckmorton Titus Tom Green Travis Trinity Tyler Upshur Upton Uvalde Val Verde Van Zandt Victoria Walker Waller Ward Washington Webb Wharton Wheeler Wichita Wilbarger Willacy Williamson Wilson Winkler Wise Wood Yoakum Young Zapata Zavala

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Coordinates: 31°32′N 96°35′W / 31.54°N 96.58°W / 31.54; -96.58