Albany, Texas

Latitude:

Longitude:

Albany, the county seat of Shackelford County, is at the intersection of State Highway 6 and U.S. Highway 283, in the central part of the county.

History

The townsite was donated by Henry C. Jacobs, the first sheriff. William Cruger named the town for his former home, Albany, Georgia. One of the town's Bicentennial projects was a rock fountain dedicated to the memory of the Georgia volunteers killed in the Goliad Massacre during the Texas Revolution. The site was selected for a county seat to supersede Fort Griffin on November 8, 1874. The public sale of town lots took place on August 2, 1875; within a few months T. E. Jackson built a general store. Cattle drivers going up the Western Trail to Dodge City soon began to use the town as a supply point. The arrival of the Texas Central Railroad in December 1881 made Albany a shipping point for cattle. An election on July 20, 1883, authorized Albany's first public school system, which covered eight square miles; by 1986 the Albany system covered 560 square miles. In 1883 the Albany News superseded the Albany Star. The Shackelford County Courthouse was built that same year.

Albany, the county seat, was established in the year 1874, after a hot contest with Fort Griffin for the seat of government, the latter being at that time soldiers' headquarters. Albany is surrounded by home owners, whose principle income is derived from extensive stock farming. with ranches ranging from one to twenty sections. The town proper consists of home owners, hence the citizenship is of a permanent class.