Robertson 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

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 16,757. 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 Franklin. The county was created in 1837 and organized the following year. It is named for Sterling C. Robertson, an early settler who signed the

Texas Declaration of Independence The Texas Declaration of Independence was the formal declaration of independence of the Republic of Texas from Mexico in the Texas Revolution. It was adopted at the Convention of 1836 at Washington-on-the-Brazos on March 2, 1836, and was form ...

. Robertson County is in east-central Texas and is part of the College Station- Bryan, TX metropolitan statistical area.

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, 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 U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the county has a total area of , of which are land and (1.1%) are covered by water.

Major highways

* U.S. Highway 79 * U.S. Highway 190 * State Highway 6 * State Highway 7 * State Highway 14 Additionally, State Highway OSR forms Robertson County's southeastern border, but does not fully enter the county.

Adjacent counties

* Limestone County (north) * Leon County (northeast) * Brazos County (southeast) * Burleson County (south) * Milam County (southwest) * Falls County (northwest)

Demographics

As of 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, 16,000 people, 6,179 households, and 4,356 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 . The 7,874 housing units averaged . The racial makeup of the county was 66.20% White, 24.19% African American, 0.42% Native American, 0.16% Asian, 7.22% from other races, and 1.79% from two or more races. About 14.74% of the population were Hispanics or Latinos of any race. Of the 6,179 households, 32.00% had children under 18 living with them, 51.10% were married couples living together, 15.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.50% were not families. About 26.90% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.50% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.55, and the average family size was 3.09. In the county, the age distribution was 28.20% under 18, 7.50% from 18 to 24, 24.20% from 25 to 44, 23.10% from 45 to 64, and 17.00% who were 65 or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.70 males. The median income for a household in the county was $28,886, and for a family was $35,590. Males had a median income of $30,795 versus $21,529 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the county was $14,714. About 17.30% of families and 20.60% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 28.70% of those under age 18 and 21.60% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

Cities

* Bremond * Calvert * Franklin (county seat) * Hearne

Unincorporated communities

* Bald Prairie * Benchley (partly in Brazos County) * Easterly * Elliott * Hammond * Mumford * New Baden *

Ridge A ridge is a long, narrow, elevated geomorphologic landform, structural feature, or a combination of both separated from the surrounding terrain by steep sides. The sides of a ridge slope away from a narrow top, the crest or ridgecrest, wi ...

* Tidwell Prairie * Valley Junction * Wheelock

Ghost towns

* Owensville

Politics

Robertson County was a longtime Democratic stronghold, as were many rural Southern counties during the

Jim Crow The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws introduced in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that enforced racial segregation, " Jim Crow" being a pejorative term for an African American. The last of the ...

and immediate post-Jim Crow eras (It had only voted for a Republican in the national Republican landslide of

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

, and even then, only by a single vote). In

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

, the last time the county went to a Democrat (

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American former politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He previously served as ...

), it was one of only three majority-white rural counties in Texas (with Newton and Morris) to vote for

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 former vice president. None of the three have gone to a Democrat since.

Education

References

External links

Robertson County government's website
* * Sketch of
Sterling Robertson
fro
''A pictorial history of Texas, from the earliest visits of European adventurers, to A.D. 1879''
hosted by th
Portal to Texas History
{{Coord, 31.03, -96.51, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-TX_source:UScensus1990 1837 establishments in the Republic of Texas Populated places established in 1837 Bryan–College Station