Kaufman County is a

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 ...

in the northeastern area of 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 so ...

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 ...

. As of the 2020 census, its population was 145,310. 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 Kaufman. Both the county, established in 1848, and the city were named for David S. Kaufman, a U.S. Representative and

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

from Texas. Kaufman County is part of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

artist Frank Reaugh moved from

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

to Kaufman County in 1876. There he was directly inspired for such paintings as ''The Approaching Herd'' (1902).

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which are land and (3.3%) are covered by water. Located in the northeast portion of Texas, it is bounded on the southwest by the Trinity River, and drained by the east fork of that stream.

Major highways

* Interstate 20 * U.S. Highway 80 * U.S. Highway 175 * State Highway 34 * State Highway 205 * State Highway 243 * State Highway 274 * Spur 557

Lakes

* Cedar Creek Reservoir (small part) * Lake Ray Hubbard (small part) * Kaufman Lake

Adjacent counties

* Hunt County (north) * Van Zandt County (east) * Henderson County (south) * Ellis County (southwest) * Dallas County (west) * Rockwall County (northwest)

Communities

Cities (multiple counties)

* Combine (partly in Dallas County) *

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

(mostly in Dallas County with small parts in Collin, Denton, Rockwall and Kaufman counties) *

Heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and is characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a coole ...

(mostly in Rockwall County) * Mesquite (mostly in Dallas County) *

Poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

(partly in Hunt County) * Seagoville (mostly in Dallas County) * Seven Points (mostly in Henderson County)

Cities

* Cottonwood * Crandall * Forney * Kaufman (county seat) * Kemp * Terrell

Towns

* Mabank (partly in Henderson County) * Oak Grove * Oak Ridge * Post Oak Bend City * Scurry * Talty

Villages

* Grays Prairie * Rosser

Census-designated places

Elmo Elmo is a Muppet character on the children's television show ''Sesame Street''. A furry red monster who speaks in a high-pitched falsetto voice and frequently refers to himself in the third person, he hosts the last full 15-minute segmen ...

* Heartland * Travis Ranch

Unincorporated communities

* Ables Springs * Abner * Cobb * College Mound * Colquitt * Gastonia * Hiram * Lawrence * Markout * McCoy * Ola * Prairieville * Styx * Tolosa *

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

Ghost towns

* Cedar Grove * Cedarvale * Jiba * Peeltown * Stubbs

Demographics

According to the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, 71,313 people, 24,367 households, and 19,225 families were residing in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), 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 geog ...

was . Its 26,133 housing units averaged . In 2020, the population was 145,310. According to the 2000 census, the racial and ethnic makeup of the county was 81.10% White, 10.53% African American, 0.61% Native American, 0.47% Asian, 5.68% from other races, and 1.61% from two or more races. About 11.11% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race. By the 2020 census, its racial and ethnic makeup was 54.11% non-Hispanic white, 14.82% African American, 0.43% Native American, 1.45% Asian American, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 0.30% some other race, 3.95% multiracial, and 24.89% Hispanic or Latino American of any race. American Community Survey 2023 Data The United States Census Bureau estimated that in 2023, Kaufman County’s population was 185,690. It was also estimated that the county was 28.1% Hispanic or Latino, 46.6% NH White, 20.8% NH Black, 2.2% NH Asian, 0.4% NH Native American, 0.1% NH Pacific Islander, 1.9% NH Multiracial.

Media

Kaufman County is part of the Dallas/Fort Worth DMA. Local media outlets include KDFW-TV,

KXAS-TV KXAS-TV (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Fort Worth, Texas, United States, serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is owned and operated by the NBC television network through its NBC Owned Television Stations division alon ...

, WFAA-TV, KTVT-TV, KERA-TV, KTXA-TV, KDFI-TV, KDAF-TV, KFWD-TV, and KDTX-TV. Other nearby stations that provide coverage for Kaufman County come from the Tyler/ Longview/

Jacksonville Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

market and they include KLTV, KYTX-TV, KFXK-TV, and KETK-TV. Kaufman County is served by three newspapers, the ''Terrell Tribune'', the ''Kaufman Herald'', and the ''Forney Messenger''. Forney, Texas, is also served by online news media outlet inForney.com, which covers breaking news for the county. A quarterly magazine called ''Kaufman County Life'' is produced by the ''Terrell Tribune''. The Kemp and Mabank areas are included in coverage by ''The Monitor'' and '' Athens Daily Review'' newspapers.

Law enforcement

The Kaufman County Sheriff's Office is Kaufman County's main police force. Smaller cities depend on the sheriff's office, along with the

Texas Highway Patrol The Texas Highway Patrol is a division of the Texas Department of Public Safety and is the largest state-level law enforcement agency in the U.S. state of Texas. The patrol's primary duties are enforcement of state traffic laws and commercial moto ...

, for law-enforcement duties.

Kaufman County murders

In December 2012, Texas officials issued a statewide bulletin warning that the

Aryan Brotherhood The Aryan Brotherhood (AB or The Brand) is a neo-Nazi prison gang and an organized crime syndicate that is based in the United States and has an estimated 15,000–20,000 members both inside and outside prisons. The Southern Poverty Law Center ...

was "actively planning retaliation against law enforcement officials" who worked to prosecute the gang's leadership. In January 2013, Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse of Kaufman County was assassinated by gunshot outside the Kaufman County courthouse. On March 30, 2013,

District Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...

Mike McLelland, along with his wife, were found shot and killed in their home. On April 13, 2013, ex- justice of the peace Eric Williams was arrested for making terrorist threats to county officials by email. Hasse and McLelland had aggressively prosecuted Williams in a theft case. Williams was convicted, and lost his position and his law license as a result. On April 17, 2013, his wife Kim Williams was arrested on

capital murder Capital murder refers to a category of murder in some parts of the US for which the perpetrator is eligible for the death penalty. In its original sense, capital murder was a statutory offence of aggravated murder in Great Britain, Northern Irela ...

charges in all three deaths. Officials did not link these arrests or events to the Aryan Brotherhood. Eric Williams was convicted at trial and sentenced to death on December 16, 2014. Kim Williams pleaded guilty on December 30, 2014, and received a 40-year sentence.

Politics

Prior to 1952, Kaufman County was a Democratic Party stronghold in presidential elections. From 1952 to 1980, it was still primarily Democratic, though the party's margin of victories were far lower than before. Republican

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

won the county handily in 1972 as part of his national landslide. Starting with the 1984 election, it has become a Republican stronghold, though neither of

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

's two Republican opponents managed a majority despite winning the county due to

Ross Perot Henry Ross Perot ( ; June 27, 1930 – July 9, 2019) was an American businessman, politician, and philanthropist. He was the founder and chief executive officer of Electronic Data Systems and Perot Systems. He ran an Independent politician ...

's strong third-party candidacy. The county's Republican lean has lessened a bit due to population growth in the DFW metroplex in recent years, but it still remains strongly Republican. Republicans have consistently won more than 60% of the vote in the county in the 21st century.

Education

References

External links

Kaufman County government's website

Kaufman County
at the ''

Handbook of Texas The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) is an American nonprofit educational and research organization dedicated to documenting the history of Texas. It was founded in Austin, Texas, United States, on March 2, 1897. In November 2008, the ...

Online'' {{authority control Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex 1848 establishments in Texas Populated places established in 1848