Borden County is a rural

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

located in the U.S. state of

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. It is in

West Texas West Texas is a loosely defined region in the U.S. state of Texas, generally encompassing the desert climate, arid and semiarid climate, semiarid lands west of a line drawn between the cities of Wichita Falls, Texas, Wichita Falls, Abilene, Texa ...

and its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

is Gail. As of the 2020 census, its population was 631, making it the fifth-least populous county in Texas. Borden is one of four remaining

prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

or entirely

dry counties In the United States, a dry county is a county whose local government forbids the sale of any kind of alcoholic beverages. Some prohibit off-premises sale, some prohibit on-premises sale, and some prohibit both. The vast majority of counties no ...

in the state of Texas. The county was created in 1876 and later organized in 1891. Gail and Borden County are named for Gail Borden Jr., businessman, publisher,

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. These points are usually on the ...

, and pioneer of

condensed milk Condensed milk is Milk#Cow, cow's milk from which water has been removed (roughly 60% of it). It is most often found with sugar added, in the form of sweetened condensed milk, to the extent that the terms "condensed milk" and "sweetened condensed m ...

History

Native Americans

Shoshone The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ), also known by the endonym Newe, are an Native Americans in the United States, Indigenous people of the United States with four large cultural/linguistic divisions: * Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming * Northern Shoshon ...

and the Penateka band of Comanches were early tribes in the area.

County established

Borden County was created in 1876 from Bosque County and named for Gail Borden Jr., the inventor of

. Borden was publisher and editor of the '' Telegraph and Texas Register'', as well as a political leader in the

Republic of Texas The Republic of Texas (), or simply Texas, was a country in North America that existed for close to 10 years, from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846. Texas shared borders with Centralist Republic of Mexico, the Republic of the Rio Grande, an ...

. The county was organized in 1891, and Gail was made the county seat. Farmers and ranchers settled the county, but the population remained relatively small. In 1902, Texas placed lands in the public domain and spurred a land rush in Borden County. Many of the newcomers grew cotton. Borden County has had two courthouses, one built in 1890. The current courthouse is of brick and concrete construction and was erected in 1939. The architect was David S. Castle Co. Oil was discovered in the county in 1949. By 1991, more than of petroleum had been taken out of Borden County since its discovery.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the county has a total area of , of which are land and (1.0%) are covered by water.

Major highways

U.S. Highway 180 * Texas FM 669

Farm to Market Road 669

Adjacent counties

* Garza County (north) * Scurry County (east) * Mitchell County (southeast) * Howard County (south) * Martin County (southwest) * Dawson County (west) * Lynn County (northwest)

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, 729 people, 292 households, and 216 families resided in the county. The population density was . The 435 housing units averaged . The racial makeup of the county was 90.53% White, 0.14% African American, 0.27% Native American, 6.31% from other races, and 2.74% from two or more races. About 11.93% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race. Of the 292 households, 30.10% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 65.10% were married couples living together, 6.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.70% were not families. Around 22.60% of all households consisted of individuals, and 9.20% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.50 and the average family size was 2.93. In the county, the population was distributed as 24.60% under the age of 18, 6.70% from 18 to 24, 27.40% from 25 to 44, 25.00% from 45 to 64, and 16.30% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 103.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 108.30 males. The median income for a household in the county was $29,205, and for a family was $36,458. Males had a median income of $25,556 versus $21,607 for females. The per capita income for the county was $18,364. About 14.00% of the population and 11.80% of families were below the poverty line. Of the total people living in poverty, 14.30% were under the age of 18 and 11.60% were 65 or older. The county is served by nearby radio stations KBXJ (FM) and KPET (AM), and the various Midland and Odessa radio and TV stations. The largest self-reported ancestry groups in Borden County are: · English – 17% · Irish – 15% · German – 12% · Mexican – 9% · French (except Basque) – 3% · Scotch-Irish – 3% · Other Hispanic or Latino – 3% · Scottish – 2% · Spanish – 1% · American Indian tribes, specified – 1%

Education

The county is served mostly by Borden County Independent School District, with remaining portions in the Sands Consolidated Independent School District. The

Texas Legislature The Texas State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Texas. It is a bicameral body composed of a 31-member Senate and a 150-member House of Representatives. The state legislature meets at the Capitol in Austin. It is a p ...

designated the county as being in the Western Texas College District.

Media

The weekly newspaper, the ''Borden Star'', covers events for the school and county.

Communities

* Gail (county seat) *

Mesquite Mesquite is a common name for some plants in the genera ''Neltuma'' and '' Strombocarpa'', which contain over 50 species of spiny, deep-rooted leguminous shrubs and small trees. They are native to dry areas in the Americas. Until 2022, these ge ...

(ghost town) * Plains

Gallery

File:Mushaway Peak Borden County Texas 2010.jpg, Mushaway Peak viewed from Willow Valley Road File:Mesquite School Borden County Texas 2010.jpg, Abandoned schoolhouse in the ghost town of

File:Borden County, TX, Courthouse IMG_1787.JPG, Frontal view of Borden County Courthouse File:Coyote Country Store, Gail, TX IMG_1804.JPG, Coyote Country Store across from the courthouse is one of the few businesses in Borden County File:Gail Mountain Borden County Texas.jpg, Gail Mountain viewed from Willow Valley Road File:First Baptist Church, Gail, TX IMG 1812.JPG, First Baptist Church in Gail

Politics

Borden County was Donald Trump's second strongest county in 2020, only slightly edged out by Roberts County in the same state.

References

External links

Borden County government
*
Borden County
from the Texas Almanac
Borden County
from the TXGenWeb Project
Borden County Profile from the Texas Association of Counties
* {{Coord, 32.74, -101.43, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-TX_source:UScensus1990 1891 establishments in Texas Populated places established in 1891