Kerr County

Kerr County is fifty miles northwest of San Antonio in the Edwards Plateau region of south central Texas. The irregularly shaped county is bounded on the northeast by Gillespie County, on the east by Kendall County, on the south by Bandera County, on the southwest by Real County, on the west by Edwards County, and on the northwest by Kimble County. The center of the county lies at approximately 30°04' north latitude and 99°20' west longitude. The county was named for James Kerr, an Old Three Hundred colonist and an important figure in the Texas Revolution. Kerrville is the county seat, and Ingram is the only other incorporated community. The county is served by Interstate Highway 10, U.S. highways 83 and 87, and State highways 16, 27, and 39. Kerr County is drained by the Guadalupe River and its tributaries and covers 1,107 square miles of undulating to hilly land with elevations that range from 1,500 to 2,000 feet above sea level. Annual rainfall is thirty inches. January's average minimum temperature is 32° F; July's average maximum is 94° F. The county has a growing season of 216 days, and between 1 and 10 percent of the land is considered prime farmland. In the northwest area of the county soils are dark and loamy over limestone; to the south and east soils are variable with light colored brown to red soils in some areas and dark loamy or loamy soils over clayey subsoils elsewhere. The county is in the Edwards Plateau vegetation area, characterized by buffalograss, wildrye, and switchgrass, and by live oak, shinnery oak, junipers, and mesquite trees.

Adapted from the official Handbook of Texas, a state encyclopedia developed by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). It is an authoritative source of trusted historical records.