Jones County

Jones County is located in west central Texas surrounded by Haskell County to the north, Shackelford County to the east, Callahan County to the southeast, Taylor County to the south, Fisher County to the west, and Stonewall County to the northwest. Anson the county seat, is 23 miles north of Abilene and about 145 miles southeast of Lubbock.

Cities, Towns & Communities

Anson – county seat | Avoca (Avo) | Boyd Chapel | Compere | Ericksdahl | Hamlin | Hawley | Lueders | Neinda | New Hope | Stamford | Truby

History

Jones County. Site of emigrant trail, the frontier military road, and Fort Phantom Hill, founded in 1851 to guard the military road. County created 1858 from Bexar and Bosque counties. Named for Anson Jones (1798-1858), a veteran of San Jacinto, minister to the U.S., Secretary of State and last President of the Texas Republic. Phantom Hill, in 1858-1861 a Butterfield Overland Mail Station, was in 1861-1865 a Civil War patrol point, trying to curb frontier raids by Indians. The county was recreated in 1876, organized 1881. Anson (at first called Jones City) is county seat. – Historical Marker Text. Marker erected 1965. Located at the Courthouse square, intersection of US 277 and 180.

Jones County was established on February 1, 1858, from Bexar and Bosque counties. In 1880 John Merchant built a mesquite corral at the site of the future county seat, and Henry Foster put up the first wire fence in the county. The population of Jones County reached 546 that year, and when the county was organized in 1881 Jones City was declared the county seat. In 1882 the name of the county seat was changed to Anson. Farmers arrived in the county soon after the ranchers, and the area had 1,191 acres in cultivation by 1880. The population increased more than seven-fold during the 1880s, reaching 3,797 in 1890, while the number of cultivated acres increased to 60,120. In spite of occasional drought conditions, farmers grew cotton, corn, wheat, and oats. By 1900 Jones County had a population of 7,049 and 820 farms and ranches.

Jones County 1879. JONES. The county seat of Jones county will be on Paint creek, a very desirable place near the center of the county, and will no doubt be a flourishing town. Should Texas and Pacific railroad pass through that section of the county, which is generally supposed, it may become a place of importance.

Jones County History 1922. In 1880 Jones County had a population of 546; in 1890, 3,797 ; in 1900. 7,053 ; in 1910. 24,299 ; and in 1920. 25,293. The increase was over three hundred per cent during the first decade of the present century. In 1900 the first railroad, the Texas Central, was completed to Stamford. The second railway in the county was a portion of the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient. which by 1905 had been completed from Sweetwater into Haskell County. crossing the northwest corner of Jones County. In 1905 the Wichita Valley Railroad Company was incorporated to construct a line from Seymour south to Stamford. About the same time the Abilene & Northern Railroad began construction from Abilene north, and the two lines were connected at Stamford in 1907. Subsequent extensions of these railroads have given Jones County a large mileage, all of which has been laid since the beginning of the present century. 

Location

Anson, TX 32° 45′ 23.4144″ N, 99° 53′ 46.3452″ W

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