Texas County, Missouri

Texas County is a county in south-central Missouri. First organized in 1843, it is one of four Missouri counties to share a name with another U.S. state (the others being Mississippi, Oregon, and Washington Counties), and the state's largest county by land area. It had a population of 26,008 at the 2010 census. Houston is the county seat, and Licking is the largest city.

Like much of south-central Missouri, the future area of Texas County was at one time occupied by various Indian tribes, which left behind a variety of archaeological evidence, including mounds and rock paintings. By the colonial period, it was controlled by the Osage nation, which ceded it to American authorities in an 1808 land grant.

American settlers, chiefly from states of the Upper South such as Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee, began moving into the region by the mid-1810s, including the famous frontiersman Daniel Boone for a time. Their numbers steadily increased over the next generation, with many pioneers clustering along the Big Piney and Current Rivers, where they built sawmills to cut and process the local pine timber and then float it downstream. Others established farms and pastures in the many fertile valleys that dot the area.^[1]

The region was first organized as a county on February 17, 1843, and was given the name "Ashley County," in honor of William Henry Ashley (1785-1839), a former fur trader and the first lieutenant governor of Missouri, who had at one time operated a trading post within its boundaries. On February 14, 1845, however, its name was changed to Texas County, in honor of what was then still the Republic of Texas. Many from this section had emigrated to Texas, and it has been suggested (probably not accurately) that its being the largest county in the state, just as Texas would become the largest state in the Union, influenced the choice. The imminent admission of Texas into the United States, which would be formalized only days later, may also have played a role.^[2]

In 1846, a site along Brushy Creek in the center of the county was chosen for the county seat, and promptly named Houston in honor of the man who had won Texan independence. At the time of its first census in 1850, Texas County had a population of 2,312, and grew steadily over the next decade, but then suffered severe upheaval during the Civil War. With a largely pro-Confederate population, and lying across the main Union communications route from St. Louis to Springfield, guerrilla warfare in the region was constant, and much of Houston, including the courthouse, was burned down in the course of the conflict (though local records from the courthouse were saved and stored in a cave until the war's end).

After the Civil War, the county saw a rebuilding period, but its growth was not impaired in the long run. By 1900, its population stood at over 20,000; from that point until the 1960s, though, it leveled off and experienced a slow decline. With most of the main transportation routes lying beyond its borders, and relatively little manufacturing or mining compared to other parts of the Ozarks, it became something of a backwater, relying largely on agriculture and forestry as it always had. Since the 1960s, it has slowly expanded once again, thanks in part to tourism to the rivers, springs, and other natural attractions in the broader region.

Following the 2010 Census, it was announced that the U.S. center of population had shifted 25 miles southwest from its 2000 location, to a point about 3 miles northeast of the village of Plato, in the northwestern part of Texas County.^[3]

The unincorporated community of Tyrone, in southern Texas County, was the scene of a mass murder on February 26, 2015, when a violent and unstable convicted felon, shot and killed seven people, including several family members, and wounded another before taking his own life. It was a shock to the county, which generally has a very low rate of homicide.^[4]

Texas County is located in south-central Missouri, almost equidistant between the state's western and eastern boundaries. It is mostly quadrilateral in shape, except for a notch cut from its northeastern corner by Dent County. It is bordered on the northeast by Dent County, on the east by Shannon County, on the south by Howell County, on the southwest by Douglas County, on the west by Wright County, on the northwest by Laclede County, on the northwest by Pulaski County, and on the north by Phelps County.

Texas County is the largest county by land area in the state of Missouri, totaling 1,179.22 square miles, including 1,177.27 of land and 1.96 of water.^[5] It is slightly larger than the state of Rhode Island. Lying entirely within the Ozarks, most of the county consists of an elevated, rolling plateau, though there is more rugged terrain along the Big Piney River in the north and the upper reaches of the Current watershed in the east. The highest elevation, though, is an unnamed high point a few miles northwest of Cabool, at 1,660 feet, while the lowest, at about 840 feet, is found along the Jacks Fork of the Current River in the southeastern corner as it flows into Shannon County.^[6]

There are two federal highways in the county: U.S. Route 60, which crosses through Cabool and the southwestern corner of the county, and U.S. Route 63, which is the main north-south thoroughfare, running through the cities of Licking and Houston before joining U.S. 60 at Cabool. Other major roads include Missouri State Highway 17, which enters from the southeast and passes through Summersville and Houston before continuing northwest into Laclede County; Highway 32, which runs east to west through Licking and the northern part of the county; Highway 38, which only crosses rural areas; and Highway 137, which has its northern terminus at Licking and from there continues south into Howell County.

At the 2010 census, Texas County had a total population of 26,008, with 10,057 households and 6,924 families; this represented a significant increase from its 2000 population of 23,003. The population density was 22.1 per square mile. There were 11,685 housing units, or about 9.9 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was about 93.56% White, 3.43% African-American, 0.69% Native American, 0.31% Asian, 0.03% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 0.22% from some other race, and 1.83% from two or more races. Hispanics of any race were 1.63% of the population.^[7]

The median age in the county was about 42 years. 22.00% of the population was under the age of 18, 8.37% was between the ages of 18 and 24, 22.88% was between the ages of 25 and 44, 28.75% was between the ages of 45 and 64, and 18.00% was 65 years old or older. The sex ratio was 52.0% male, 48.0% female.^[8]

As of 2018, the median household income in the county was $35,277, and the median family income was $47,160. Males had a median income of $37,109 versus $30,371 for females. The unemployment rate was 9.1%. The per capita income was $19,485. About 24.3% of the population was below the poverty line, including 32.3% of those under the age of 18 and 14.7% of those 65 years old or older.^[9]

Texas County is home to seven incorporated communities, including five cities and two villages.

Cities

• Cabool
• Houston (county seat)
• Licking
• Mountain Grove (partly in Wright County)
• Summersville (partly in Shannon County)

Villages

• Plato
• Raymondville

Local government in Texas County is provided by the elected officials. At present, nearly all of these positions are held by members of the Republican party.^[10]

At the state level, all of Texas County is part of the 142nd District in the Missouri House of Representatives, which also includes portions of Howell, Phelps, and Pulaski Counties. It is currently represented by Bennie Cook (R-Houston), who was elected to his first term in November 2020 without opposition.

In the Missouri State Senate, Texas County is part of the 33rd District, which also includes Douglas, Howell, Oregon, Ozark, Ripley, Webster, and Wright Counties. It is currently represented by Karla Eslinger (R-Wasola), who was elected to her first term in November 2020, defeating Democratic candidate Tammy Harty.

Eslinger roughly matched her overall total in Texas County, winning 9,140 votes to 1,798 for Harty.

At the federal level, Texas County is part of Missouri's 8th Congressional District, which includes most of southeast and south-central Missouri. It is represented by Jason Smith (R-Salem), who won re-election in November 2020, defeating Democrat Kathy Ellis.

Smith significantly overperformed his average margin in Texas County, winning 83.323% of the vote.^[11]

Political Culture

As the above numbers indicate, Texas County is generally a very strongly Republican-leaning county. Though it frequently supported the Democratic candidate in presidential elections in the early and mid-20th century, it has not done so since 1992, when it voted for Bill Clinton. Since 2000, it has never given the GOP candidate less than 60% of the vote. In 2016, Donald Trump won the county overwhelmingly with 81.01% of the vote, increasing his total to 83.76% in the 2020 election.^[12]

Like much of southern Missouri, Texas County can be included within the Bible Belt, combining social conservatism with economic populism. In 2004, it voted overwhelmingly in favor of Constitutional Amendment 2, which recognized marriage as between a man and a woman only--the measure passed in Texas County with 85.63% support. In 2006, while the state narrowly passed an amendment to fund embryonic stem-cell research, the county decisively defeated the measure with 61.13% voting against. At the same time, it often supports economic measures that appear to favor the working and middle class, though less strongly than some other areas. In the November 2006 election, the county, like the state, supported a proposed increase in the state minimum wage, with 72.03% voting in favor, but in November 2018, a similar measure (which passed the state at large) was narrowly defeated, with 51.89% voting against. These results generally align with the rest of southern Missouri and place Texas County among its most reliably conservative regions.