Okay you Texans or Texan wannabes: Let’s play a little Texas trivia.
Have you ever been to any of these Texas counties?
La Baca, Neches, Spring Creek and Waco.
How about these?
Richland, Webster and Latimer.
Ever waltzed across Texas through these counties?
Buchel, Encinal, Foley, Wegefarth, Greer, Worth, or Santa Fe,
Surely you have been to one of these counties at some time, right?
Harrisburg County, Navasoto County, Davis County, Buchanan County, and Cibolo County
Well, if you’ve ever been in or to or waltzing through any of these counties in Texas you must have done quite a bit of traveling — into fantasy land.
Now, I am sure some of these sound familiar, places you may have heard of or visited or even lived in at one time or another. Richland? Webster? Santa Fe, Harrisburg? Navasoto, Buchanan, or Waco? Why I worked in and around Waco for seven years! Davis. Isn’t there a Davis County?
There is, of course, a Waco — just no Waco County as Waco is in McLennan County. I’ve been to the county courthouse many times. And as for Davis, there is a Jeff Davis County. Some friends of mine have a place out that way and think highly of it.
There is a small town called Richland, Texas, in Navarro County. Nearby is Richland Creek, which along with Chambers Creek, form Richland-Chambers Reservoir. It is the 3rd largest inland lake in Texas and supplies water for Fort Worth.
Harrisburg was a capital of a Texas provisional government until it was burned down by Mexicans. It is now a community in eastern Harris County on Buffalo Bayou and is part of Houston. Webster is in southern Harris County near Galveston. Santa Fe is southwest of Webster in Galveston County. I don’t know of a Buchanan, Texas, but there is a Lake Buchanan, Texas, which is on, surprise, Lake Buchanan. Pronounced, “BUCK-an-an,” the lake is one of the so-called “Highland Lakes” on the Colorado River to the north of Austin. It’s a really beautiful place, or was last time I saw it. Finally, Navasota is a nice little town located between College Station and Houston. You can find a statue of the explorer La Salle there as he was supposedly murdered by his own men near Navasota in 1687. That takes you back a few years, no?
Well, you say that is all well and good. But what the bluebonnets about these non-existent counties?
That is just the point.Texas has had a good number of counties proposed that never got off the drawing board. In fact, there are at least 32 counties which were established but no longer exist. I say 32. Do you see 32 above? You shouldn’t. That is because some counties had name changes and were changed back to their original name, according to the “Handbook of Texas Online.”
Some of the other cities were so-called “judicial counties.” Others were established by the post-Civil War Constitutional Convention and never got off the ground likely because of prejudice against the radical Republicans who were in charge. Still others were proposed by the legislature and later abolished by the legislature. Also, some counties were outside the boundaries of present-day Texas.
I have tried, nerd that I am, to track all the counties in Texas I have visited. I could draw you an outline of the area of the state in which I’ve traveled and that which I haven’t. But you have to remember that Texas has 254 counties. That’s quite a load. The District of Columbia (a.k.a. District of Confusion), has only one county. Delaware has three. Louisiana has no counties. But they have 66 parishes.
To be honest, I doubt I could even name all the Texas counties. Why would you want to you say? I don’t know. Maybe La Salle was given a geography test and that he failed it was the reason he was murdered in present-day Grimes County. Probably that is not the reason but who knows? I mean, you never know when a little extra knowledge might just save your life, or make you look like a big weenie.
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