Henderson County is a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. As of the 2020 census, its population was 82,150. The

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...

. The county is named in honor of

James Pinckney Henderson James Pinckney Henderson (March 31, 1808 – June 4, 1858) was an American and Republic of Texas lawyer, politician, and soldier, and the first governor of the State of Texas. Early years He was born in Lincolnton, North Carolina, on March 31, ...

, the first attorney general of the

Republic of Texas The Republic of Texas ( es, República de Tejas) was a sovereign state in North America that existed from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846, that bordered Mexico, the Republic of the Rio Grande in 1840 (another breakaway republic from Me ...

, and secretary of state for the republic. He later served as the first governor of Texas. Henderson County was established in 1846, the year after Texas gained statehood. Its first town was Buffalo, laid out in 1847. The county boundaries were set in 1850, with some reduction from the previous size. The restructuring resulted in the need for a new county seat. In an election, Athens was chosen as the site for the "courthouse under the oaks." Henderson County comprises the Athens micropolitan statistical area, which is also included in the

Dallas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

Fort Worth Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. Accord ...

combined statistical area Combined statistical area (CSA) is a United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB) term for a combination of adjacent metropolitan statistical area, metropolitan (MSA) and micropolitan statistical areas (µSA) across the 50 US states and ...

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

, the county has a total area of , of which (7.9%) are covered by water.

Major highways

* U.S. Highway 175 * State Highway 19 * State Highway 31 * State Highway 155 * State Highway 198 * State Highway 274 * State Highway 334

Adjacent counties

* Kaufman County (north) *

Van Zandt County Van Zandt County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas, in the northeastern part of the state. As of the 2020 census, its population was 59,541. Its county seat is Canton. The county is named for Isaac Van Zandt (1813–1847), a me ...

(north) * Smith County (east) * Cherokee County (southeast) * Anderson County (south) * Freestone County (southwest) * Navarro County (west) * Ellis County (northwest)

Communities

Cities

(county seat) * Brownsboro * Chandler * Eustace * Gun Barrel City *

Log Cabin A log cabin is a small log house, especially a less finished or less architecturally sophisticated structure. Log cabins have an ancient history in Europe, and in America are often associated with first generation home building by settlers. Eur ...

* Malakoff * Moore Station * Murchison * Seven Points (small part in Kaufman County) * Star Harbor *

Tool A tool is an object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many animals use simple tools, only human beings, whose use of stone tools dates b ...

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

Towns

* Berryville * Caney City * Coffee City * Enchanted Oaks * Mabank (mostly in Kaufman County) * Payne Springs * Poynor

Census-designated place

* Sunrise Shores

Unincorporated communities

Aley Aley ( ar, عاليه) is a major city in Lebanon. It is the capital of the Aley District and fourth largest city in Lebanon. The city is located on Mount Lebanon, 15 km uphill from Beirut on the freeway to Damascus. Aley has the nick ...

Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου, ''Antiókheia hē epì Oróntou'', Learned ; also Syrian Antioch) grc-koi, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου; or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπ� ...

* Baxter *

Bethel Bethel ( he, בֵּית אֵל, translit=Bēṯ 'Ēl, "House of El" or "House of God",Bleeker and Widegren, 1988, p. 257. also transliterated ''Beth El'', ''Beth-El'', ''Beit El''; el, Βαιθήλ; la, Bethel) was an ancient Israelite sanc ...

* Big Rock * Buffalo * Crescent Heights * Cross Roads * Dauphin * Evelyn * Fincastle *

Harmony In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. Howeve ...

* LaRue * Leagueville * Mankin * New Hope *

Opelika Opelika (pronounced ) is a city in and the county seat of Lee County in the east-central part of the U.S. state of Alabama. It is a principal city of the Auburn-Opelika Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 census, the population of Opelika is ...

* Pauline * Pickens * Pine Grove * Ruth Springs * Shady Oaks * Stockard * Sumer Hill * Union Hill *

Virginia Hill Virginia Hill (born Onie Virginia Hill; August 26, 1916 – March 24, 1966) was an American organized crime figure. An Alabama native, she became a Chicago outfit courier during the mid-1930s. She was famous for being the girlfriend of mobster ...

Ghost towns

* Centreville *

Corinth Corinth ( ; el, Κόρινθος, Kórinthos, ) is the successor to an ancient city, and is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part ...

Demographics

''Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race.'' As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...

of 2000, 73,277 people, 28,804 households, and 20,969 families were residing in the county. Its

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopu ...

was 84 people/sq mi (32/km²). The 35,935 housing units averaged 41 per sq mi (16/km²). The

racial makeup A race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 1500s, when it was used to refer to groups of variou ...

of the county was 88.50% White, 6.61% African American, 0.54% Native American, 0.30% Asian, 2.75% from other races, and 1.30% from two or more races. About 6.92% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race. At the 2020 census, its population increased to 82,150 with a predominantly

non-Hispanic white Non-Hispanic whites or Non-Latino whites are Americans who are classified as "white", and are not of Hispanic (also known as "Latino") heritage. The United States Census Bureau defines ''white'' to include European Americans, Middle Eastern Am ...

population; the Hispanic or Latino population of any race increased to 13.68% reflecting nationwide demographic trends.

Government

* County Judge: Wade McKinney * Commissioner Pct. 1: Wendy Spivey * Commissioner Pct. 2: Scott Tuley * Commissioner Pct. 3: Charles "Chuck" McHam * Commissioner Pct. 4: Mark Richardson * County Clerk: Mary Margret Wright * District Clerk: Betty Herriage * County Attorney: Clint Davis * District Attorney: Jenny Palmer * County Auditor: Ann Marie Lee * County Treasurer: Michael Bynum * County Court at Law #1 Judge: Scott Williams * County Court at Law #2 Judge: Nancy Perryman * 3rd District Court Judge: Mark Calhoon * 173rd District Court Judge: Dan Moore * 392nd District Court Judge: Scott McKee * Justice of the Peace Pct. 1: Randy Daniel * Constable Pct. 1: Thomas Goodell * Justice of the Peace Pct. 2: Kevin Pollock * Constable Pct. 2: Mitch Baker * Justice of the Peace Pct. 3: James Duncan * Constable Pct. 3: David Grubbs * Justice of the Peace Pct. 4: Milton Adams * Constable Pct. 4: John Floyd * Justice of the Peace Pct. 5: Belinda Brownlow * Constable Pct. 5: Brad Miers * Sheriff: Botie Hillhouse * Tax Assessor/Collector: Peggy Goodall * Elections Administrator: Paula Ludtke * Fire Marshal/Emergency Management Coordinator: Shane Renburg

Politics

Media

Henderson County is part of the Dallas/Fort Worth DMA. Local media outlets are: KDFW-TV,

KXAS-TV KXAS-TV (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Fort Worth, Texas, United States, broadcasting NBC programming to the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongs ...

, WFAA-TV, KTVT-TV, KERA-TV,

KTXA-TV KTXA (channel 21) is an independent television station in Fort Worth, Texas, United States, serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside Fort Worth–based CBS station KTVT (channel 11). Bo ...

KDFI-TV KDFI (channel 27), branded on-air as Fox 4 More or More 27, is a television station licensed to Dallas, Texas, United States, broadcasting MyNetworkTV to the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations along ...

KDAF-TV KDAF (channel 33) is a television station licensed to Dallas, Texas, United States, serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex with programming from The CW. It is owned and operated by network majority owner Nexstar Media Group (based in nearb ...

, and

KFWD-TV KFWD, virtual channel 52 (VHF digital channel 9), is a ShopHQ- affiliated television station licensed to Fort Worth, Texas, United States and serving the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex. The station is owned by Rye Brook, New York-based WRNN-T ...

. Other nearby stations that provide coverage for Henderson County come from the Tyler/ Longview/

Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

market and they include:

KLTV KLTV (channel 7) is a television station licensed to Tyler, Texas, United States, serving East Texas as an affiliate of ABC and Telemundo. K31PR-D (channel 31) is a digital translator, also licensed to Tyler, in full simulcast with the primary ...

, KTRE-TV, KYTX-TV, KFXK-TV,

KCEB-TV KCEB (channel 54) is a television station in Longview, Texas, United States. It is broadcasting public domain movies, interspersed with Infomercials, and is owned by Innovate Corp. alongside Tyler-licensed low-power station KPKN-LD, both of ...

, and KETK-TV. Newspaper coverage of the area can be found in the ''

Athens Daily Review The ''Athens Daily Review'' is a three-time weekly newspaper in Athens, Texas, published mornings on Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday, and distributed throughout Henderson County. It is owned by Community Newspaper Holdings Inc., which acquired the p ...

'', based in Athens; ''The Monitor'' is published in Mabank, which is primarily in Kaufman County, but also covers news in parts of Henderson County, as well.

Crime

Paul Knight of the ''

Houston Press The ''Houston Press'' is an online newspaper published in Houston, Texas, United States. It is headquartered in the Midtown area. It was also a weekly print newspaper until November 2017. The publication is supported entirely by advertising ...

'' said in a 2009 article that some people blamed the development of the artificial Cedar Creek Lake, which opened in 1965, and development of the area surrounding the lake for the initial influx of crime and recreational drugs into the county and the

East Texas East Texas is a broadly defined cultural, geographic, and ecological region in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas that comprises most of 41 counties. It is primarily divided into Northeast and Southeast Texas. Most of the region co ...

region. Carroll Dyson, a retired pilot and Henderson County resident interviewed by the ''Houston Press'', said in 2009 that the lake attracted "

white flight White flight or white exodus is the sudden or gradual large-scale migration of white people from areas becoming more racially or ethnoculturally diverse. Starting in the 1950s and 1960s, the terms became popular in the United States. They refer ...

" from metropolitan areas.Knight, Paul. "Superthief." September 22, 2009
1
Retrieved on September 28, 2009. Dyson added, "When all your rich people from Dallas and

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...

move out here, the thieves are just drawn to them. Thieves are just wired that way. You used to not have to lock your door in Henderson County." Ray Nutt, the sheriff of Henderson County, said in the same article that when the lake first opened, it had no zoning and "a lot of elderly people bought a mobile home and moved in; it was nice. Then, they passed away and family members sold them off or just let them go down." Nutt added that the area around the lake has "a lot of good people," yet it also where "a lot of criminals tend to flow."Knight, Paul. "Superthief." September 22, 2009
2
Retrieved on September 28, 2009.

References

External links

Henderson County

Henderson County in ''Handbook of Texas Online''
at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

TXGenWeb Project for Henderson County
{{authority control Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex 1846 establishments in Texas Populated places established in 1846 Micropolitan areas of Texas