Stephenville

Stephenville, Texas

Stephenville, Texas

City Hall in the City of Stephenville, the county seat of Erath County, Texas. Photograph by Larry D. Moore.

Stephenville, the county seat of Erath County, is on the North Bosque River at the junction of U.S. highways 67, 377, and 281, 100 miles southwest of Dallas. It is named for John M. Stephen, who settled there in 1854 and donated the land for the townsite laid out by George B. Erath when the county was organized in 1856. Stephen donated an additional fifty acres of timber to promote the development of the community and became the first postmaster in 1857. By 1858, when the population had grown to 766, Comanche raids were common. The turmoil caused by these Indian raids and by the Civil War and its aftermath reduced the population to 300 by 1871. Thereafter, the town grew steadily as a center for agricultural and livestock production. After 1886 the area was also a center for coal mining, an important industry there for the next thirty years. The Texas Pacific, the county's first newspaper, began in Stephenville in 1870. The town was permanently incorporated in 1889, the year the Fort Worth and Rio Grande Railway arrived. Most of the stone buildings on the town square date from the 1890s, the decade in which John Tarleton Agricultural College (now Tarleton State University) opened. Another newspaper, the Tribune, also began at that time; it later merged with the town's original paper, which had become the Empire, to form the Empire-Tribune.

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.

Belongs to

Stephenville is part of or belongs to the following places.

Adopt a Town

The Texas Almanac's Land Rush program lets you adopt the town, county, or lake of your choice and share your message with the world. 100% of the proceeds benefit education in Texas.

Currently Exists

Yes

Place type

Stephenville is classified as a Town

Locations

  • Latitude
    32.21502030
    Longitude
    -98.22044800

Has Post Office

Yes

Is Incorporated

Yes

Proud to call Texas home?

Put your name on the town, county, or lake of your choice.


Search Places »

Stephenville by the Numbers

This is some placeholder text that we should either remove or replace with a brief summary about this particular metric. For example, "We update population counts once per year..."

Population Counts

Stephenville
Pop. Year Source
20,897 2020 United States Census Bureau
22,065 2019 Texas Demographic Center
17,123 2010 United States Census Bureau
14,921 2000 United States Census Bureau
13,502 1990 United States Census Bureau
11,881 1980 United States Census Bureau
9,277 1970 United States Census Bureau
7,359 1960 United States Census Bureau
7,155 1950 United States Census Bureau
4,768 1940 United States Census Bureau
3,994 1930 United States Census Bureau
3,891 1920 United States Census Bureau
2,561 1910 United States Census Bureau
1,902 1900 United States Census Bureau
909 1890 United States Census Bureau