Limestone County

Limestone County is in Central Texas about thirty miles due east of Waco. Mexia, its largest community, is approximately eighty miles south of Dallas. Groesbeck, the county seat, is near the county's center, at approximately 31°31' north latitude and 96°35' west longitude. The county comprises 931 square miles principally in the Blackland Prairies region. In the southeastern section loamy soils overlie mottled gray and red or yellow, cracking, clayey subsoils; in the central section the soils are slightly acidic and loamy at the surface, with cracking clayey subsoils; and surfaces in the northwestern section are dark, calcareous, mostly cracking, clayey soils. The nearly level to undulating terrain and light-colored, medium to slightly acid soils of the Claypan area and Cross Timbers are also found in the county. The vegetation includes mesquite, blackjack oak, pecan, bois d'arc, and elm trees as well as Indian grass and Texas winter grass in the northern area; the Post Oak Savannah vegetation of the southern area has tall grasses, Post oak, and blackjack oak. The natural resources of the county are clays, including kaolin and ceramic clays, limestone, industrial sand, glauconite, lignite coal, oil, and gas. The level to rolling prairie ranges from 375 to 665 feet above sea level. The land, on the divide between the Brazos and Trinity rivers, is drained by the Navasota River and its tributaries, which split the county in two. Bodies of water include Lake Mexia, Springfield Lake, and Lake Limestone. The average annual precipitation is almost thirty-eight inches, and the temperatures range from an average low of 37° F in January to an average high of 96° in July. The average growing season lasts 255 days.

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.