Erath County, Texas


Erath County is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. According to the United States Census bureau, its population was 42,545 in 2020. The county seat is Stephenville. The county is named for George Bernard Erath, an early surveyor and a soldier at the Battle of San Jacinto.
Erath County is included in the Stephenville, Texas, Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Erath County contains two of North America's largest renewable natural gas plants. The largest is at Huckabay Ridge, near Stephenville. The second-largest is outside Dublin at Rio Leche Estates.

History

Native Americans

tribe Anadarko villages were scattered along the Trinity and Brazos Rivers. French explorer Jean-Baptiste Bénard de la Harpe developed camaraderie among the Anadarko in 1719 when he established Fort Saint Louis de los Cadodaquious. The Anadarko became entangled with the French battles with the Spanish and later the Anglos and suffered the consequences, including diseases to which they had no immunity. By 1860, these tribes moved to Oklahoma. Erath County falls into Comancheria and found itself raided by Comanches until their removal to Oklahoma after 1875.

County established and growth

Erath County was formed from Bosque and Coryell counties in 1856 and named for George Bernard Erath, one of the area's original surveyors. In 1856, John M. Stephen offered to donate land for a townsite. It was named Stephenville after him and became the county seat.
Jones Barbee founded the community of Dublin in 1854. His children were the first citizens to be buried in Erath County in the community of Edna Hill, in Southern Erath. Barbee Cemetery is named after him. Jones traveled with his wife and children across the country from North Carolina. He is the grandson of Christopher "Old Kit" Barbee, North Carolina's wealthiest landowner and the largest land donor for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Barbee served as board president; a bronze statue of him is in the university. Jones had many children who went on to populate the county, with names such as Barbee, White, Durham, and Brambeletts. Some of his great-grandchildren still live in the community. His great-great-great-granddaughter, Carolina, lives on his land today in Edna Hill and is the sixth generation to continually live on his old homestead. Her children are the seventh. The families of other early settlers also remain there. Dublin later became famous as the early boyhood home of the PGA, U.S. Open and Masters golf champion Ben Hogan.
In 1857, thirty pioneers settled in the county, led by George Erath. The group included brothers William F. and John M. Stephen and a black family whose name and fate is unknown.
Erath, an immigrant from Vienna, Austria, was a Texas Ranger and member of Billingsley's Company C, 1st Regiment of Texas Volunteers, under the command of Colonel Charles Burleson at the Battle of San Jacinto, and a member of the Confederate Home Guard. As a Freemason, he was a charter member and secretary of Bosque Lodge #92, from 1852 to 1855. The lodge's name changed to Waco #92 in 1857. It is the oldest continuous organization in Waco, Texas.
Cotton became the major crop between 1875 and 1915, with the largest harvest in 1906. The industry was helped in 1879 when the Texas Central Railroad reached Dublin, and in 1889 when the Fort Worth and Rio Grande railroad was completed through Stephenville. This opened eastern markets for the county's cotton crops. By 1910, soil erosion and the boll weevil caused diversity planning that led to dairy farms, fruit orchards, nurseries, peanuts, feed crops, and poultry.
The community of Thurber was created by the Johnson Coal Company. From 1888 to 1921, the Texas Pacific Coal Company mined coal near Thurber, making it a leading coal producer in the state. Fifty-two percent of the miners were of Italian ancestry, creating the "Italian Hill" community just outside Thurber. In 1903, the United Mine Workers sent Joe Fenoglio to organize the Italian workers, beginning the Thurber Coal Miners Strike. In the 1970s, the area began bituminous coal production for fuel in the cement industry.
Tarleton State University was founded in 1893 as Stephenville College. It was renamed in 1899 after local rancher John Tarleton rescued the institution from financial difficulties.
On November 4, 2008, Erath County voters elected to allow the sale of beer and wine in the county for off-premises consumption.

Courthouse

Erath's original 1866 wooden courthouse burned to the ground, destroying county documents along with it. A second stone courthouse was built in 1877 but eventually razed. The cornerstone for the current courthouse was laid in 1891. The architects James Riely Gordon and D. E. Laub designed the three-story showcase Victorian structure. Gordon also designed the Arizona State Capitol and courthouses in Aransas, Bexar, Brazoria, Comal, Ellis, Fayette, Gonzales, Harrison, Hopkins, Lee, McLennan, Victoria and Wise Counties. The building was completed in 1893 with limestone from the Leon River and red sandstone from Pecos County. Its central 95-foot tower has a bell tower and creates a chandeliered atrium from the first floor to the third. The interior is east Texas pine, with cast and wrought-iron stairways, and tessellated imported marble floors. It was renovated in 1988.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of, of which is land and is water.

Major highways

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 42,545. The median age was 31.5 years. 20.5% of residents were under the age of 18 and 15.3% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 94.0 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 91.3 males age 18 and over.
The racial makeup of the county was 76.8% White, 2.9% Black or African American, 1.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% Asian, <0.1% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 8.6% from some other race, and 9.8% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 21.8% of the population.
49.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 51.0% lived in rural areas.
There were 15,858 households in the county, of which 28.6% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 46.6% were married-couple households, 20.6% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 26.3% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 28.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 18,325 housing units, of which 13.5% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 58.8% were owner-occupied and 41.2% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.8% and the rental vacancy rate was 14.2%.

Racial and ethnic composition

Race / Ethnicity Pop 2000Pop 2010% 2000% 2010
White alone 27,26929,38230,00682.63%77.55%70.53%
Black or African American alone 2574311,1940.78%1.14%2.81%
Native American or Alaska Native alone 1271702150.38%0.45%0.51%
Asian alone 1172403480.35%0.63%0.82%
Pacific Islander alone 912130.03%0.03%0.03%
Other Race alone 20181040.06%0.05%0.24%
Mixed Race or Multiracial 2433581,4110.74%0.94%3.32%
Hispanic or Latino 4,9597,2799,25415.03%19.21%21.75%
Total33,00137,89042,545100.00%100.00%100.00%

2010 census

At the 2010 census, there were 37,890 people, 14,569 households and 9,003 families residing in the county. The racial makeup of the county was 85.6% White, 1.2% Black or African American, 0.8% Native American, 0.7% Asian, 0.0003% Pacific Islander, 10% from other races, and 1.7% from two or more races. 19.2% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 14,569 households, of which 29.59% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.03% were married couples living together, 14.7% had a female householder with no husband present and 38.2% were non-families. 27% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.06.
22.29% of the population were under the age of 18, 19.40% from 18 to 24, 23.10% from 25 to 44, 22.60% from 45 to 64, and 12.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30.5 years. For every 100 females there were 96.50 males.

Communities

Cities