Jones County

Jones County, Texas

Jones County, Texas

The Jones County Courthouse is located in the county seat, the city of Anson, Texas. Photograph by Leaflet.
Jones County, Texas

Jones County, Texas

Map of Jones County, Texas. Map Credit: Robert Plocheck.

Jones County is on the West Texas prairies, bounded on the north by Stonewall and Haskell counties, on the east by Shackelford County, on the south by Taylor County and the city of Abilene, and on the west by Fisher County. The center of the county lies at 32° 45' north latitude and 99° 54' west longitude. The county was named for Anson Jones, statesman of the Republic of Texas. Anson is the county seat. The county is crossed by U.S. highways 180, 83, and 277, State highways 6 and 92, and the Burlington Northern Railroad. Jones County covers 937 square miles of rolling plains with elevations that range from 1,600 to 1,900 feet above sea level. Annual rainfall is twenty-five inches. January's average minimum temperature is 31° F; July's average maximum is 97° F. The county has a growing season of 223 days, soils are black to sandy loam with clayey subsoils, and between 51 and 60 percent of the land is considered prime farmland. Jones County is in the rolling plains vegetation area, with tall grasses and mesquite trees. It is drained by the Clear Fork of the Brazos River and its tributaries.

In the years before Anglo settlement, several nomadic groups roamed the area that would eventually become Jones County, including the Comanche, Kiowa, and Tonkawa Indians. Caddos and Delawares camped along the Clear Fork, and Wichitas occasionally hunted in the area. Large herds of bison provided food and other necessities for these Indian groups. The earliest White settlement of Jones County was in 1851 when Fort Phantom Hill, near the site of present Hawley, was established as one of a line of forts from the Red River to the Rio Grande. These military outposts guarded the frontier and furnished protection to Forty-niners following the Randolph B. Marcy trail across Texas. Supplies were hauled from Austin. The fort was abandoned in 1854, and in 1858 the location was made a station on the Butterfield Overland Mail route from St. Louis to San Francisco. Jones County was established on February 1, 1858, from Bexar and Bosque counties. During the Civil War Indian raids forced the frontier back to the east, and the area was not settled for another fifteen years. In 1872 the military post was reestablished, and a settlement was made on a stream four miles distant. The actions of Ranald S. Mackenzie and federal troops removed the Indian threat in the mid-1870s. Buffalo hunters were followed by bone haulers, and the last buffalo was seen in the county in 1879. Owners of herds of longhorn cattle moved in to take advantage of the grass-covered range. In 1873 Creed, John, and Emmett Roberts and Mode and J. G. Johnson established ranches in the area of Fort Phantom Hill. Other early ranches included the T-Diamond, established in 1876, and the Ericsdale Ranch of the Swenson Land and Cattle Company, established in 1882 (see SMS RANCHES). In 1880 John Merchant built a mesquite corral at the site of the future county seat, and Henry Foster put up the first wire fence in the county. The population of Jones County reached 546 that year, and when the county was organized in 1881 Jones City was declared the county seat. In 1882 the name of the county seat was changed to Anson.

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Mark Odintz | © TSHA

Handbook of Texas Logo

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

Currently Exists

Yes

Place type

Jones County is classified as a County

Altitude Range

1480 ft – 1970 ft

Size

Land area does not include water surface area, whereas total area does

  • Land Area: 928.6 mi²
  • Total Area: 937.1 mi²

Temperature

January mean minimum: 31.1°F
July mean maximum: 96.2°F

Rainfall, 2019

26.1 inches

Population Count, 2019

20,083

Civilian Labor Count, 2019

5,585

Unemployment, 2019

7.9%

Property Values, 2019

$1,311,313,200 USD

Per-Capita Income, 2019

$30,559 USD

Retail Sales, 2019

$218,929,396 USD

Wages, 2019

$32,984,292 USD

Jones County

Highlighted:
  • Jones County
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