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By Charles Gongre

If you do much driving in Texas you will come to appreciate the state’s sheer size: miles and miles of Texas! You might also notice how many counties the state has: 254 to be exact, more than any other state. [Georgia is in second place with a mere 159].
Spend enough time on Texas roads and highways and you will notice that many Texas counties and cities share the same – or very similar – names. You will also realize that many of these cities are not in the counties with which they share names. Not that I’m obsessive/compulsive, but this keeps me awake at night.
Having nothing better to do, I decided to see just how big an issue this is. It spans the alphabet, A to Z: Anderson is not in Anderson County, where it belongs, but in Grimes County, and Zavalla is not in Zavalla County, but in Angelina County.
Austin is in Travis County, not Austin County, Bailey is in Fannin County, not Bailey County, and Bowie is in Montague County, rather than Bowie County. Burleson is not in Burleson County; it’s partly in Johnson County and partly in Tarrant County. Caldwell is in Burleson County instead of Caldwell County. Wasn’t anyone paying attention? Who was responsible for this?
Is Brazos in Brazos County? Of course not – it’s in Hood County. Shouldn’t Cameron be in Cameron County? Of course, but it’s actually in Milam County. You would expect Crockett to be in Crockett County, but no, it’s in Houston County. Ector is inexplicably in Fannin County rather than Ector County, and Franklin is in Robertson County instead of Franklin County.
Cherokee is an unincorporated spot in the road in San Saba County, but any reasonable person would understand that it belongs in Cherokee County! Hardin is in Liberty County, not nearby Hardin County, and Hemphill and Milam are in Sabine County instead of Hemphill and Milam counties. In a sane world, Sabine would be in Sabine County, but no, it’s in Jefferson County, while Jefferson is in Marion County and Marion is in Guadalupe County. Is Henderson in Henderson County? Of course not; it’s in Rusk County, while Rusk is in Cherokee County (which of course is where Cherokee belongs!). Parker is in Collin County, not Parker County, Stonewall is in Gillespie County instead of Stonewall County, and Taylor is in Williamson County instead of Taylor County. Terrell should be in Terrell County, but no, it’s in Kaufman County, Wilson should be in Wilson County instead of Lynn County, and Yoakum belongs in Yoakum County, so of course it’s in Lavaca County!
Crockett belongs in Crockett County but it’s in Houston County, while Houston is in Harris County. Pecos is not in Pecos County, Sherman’s not in Sherman County, Shelby’s not in Shelby County and Tyler’s not in Tyler County.
Then there are the ones hoping to escape notice by adding syllables or subtle changes in spelling. For example, Colorado City is not in Colorado County, Dimmitt is not in Dimmit County, Falls City is not in Falls County, Gainesville is not in Gaines County, Hallsburg and Hallsville are not in Hall County, and Jacksonville is not in Jackson County.
Johnson City is not in Johnson County – Why didn’t Lyndon Johnson do something about that while he was President?
Kingsville and Kingsbury are not in King County, Liberty Hill is not in Liberty County, Moore Station is not in Moore County, Nolanville is not in Nolan County, and Orange Grove is not in Orange County.
Red Lick, Red Oak, and Redwater are not in Red River County, Smithville is not in Smith County, Stephenville’s not in Stephens County, Taylor Lake Village and Taylor Landing are not in Taylor County, and Woodbranch, Wood Creek, and Woodway are not in Wood County.
It’s enough to make your car’s GPS explode!
To add insult to injury, in several cases where a city is located in the county with the same name, the city is not the county seat, as any rational person would expect. Blanco is not the county seat of Blanco County, nor is Brazoria the county seat of Brazoria County. The same is true of Hays and Hays County, Hidalgo and Hidalgo County, Montgomery and Montgomery County, San Patricio and San Patricio County, Trinity and Trinity County, Waller and Waller County, Presidio and Presidio County.
As I said earlier, this keeps me awake at night.

Charles Gongre is originally from Orange