Harrison County, Texas: History and Information

Harrison County is a county on the eastern border of the state of Texas. Based on the 2010 census, its population was 65,631. The county seat is Marshall. The county was created in 1839 and organized in 1842. It is named for Jonas Harrison, a lawyer and Texas revolutionary.

Harrison County comprises the Marshall, TX Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Longview-Marshall, TX Combined Statistical Area. It is located in the Ark-La-Tex region.

Etymology - Origin of Harrison County Name

Demographics:

Harrison County History

Settlement by United States citizens began in present-day Harrison County during the 1830s. In 1835, the Mexican authorities granted a dozen land grants to immigrants from the United States. After the Texas Revolution, the Congress of the Texas Republic established Harrison County in 1839, formed from Shelby County. Harrison County was named for Texas Revolutionary Jonas Harrison. The county was organized in 1842.

The county's area was reduced in 1846, following the establishment of Panola and Upshur counties. Marshall was established in 1841, and became the county seat in 1842.

Handbook of Texas Online
Caddo Indians lived in the East Texas timberlands for centuries before the arrival of Spanish explorers in the sixteenth century. Agriculturalists with a highly developed culture, the Caddoes were no match for European weapons and diseases. Consequently, American settlers, who began to arrive in large numbers during the 1830s, had few Indian problems in the area that became Harrison County. The settlement of the area was well under way by the time of the Texas Revolution in 1836. A dozen Americans received land grants there from Mexican authorities in the fall of 1835. After the revolution the area filled up so rapidly that the Congress of the Republic of Texas officially established Harrison County in 1839. It was drawn from Shelby County, organized in 1842, and named for Texas revolutionary leader Jonas Harrison. Marshall, founded in 1841, became the county seat in 1842. The original county boundaries were reduced by the establishment of Panola and Upshur counties in 1846. Since then, with the exception of a small adjustment with Marion County during Reconstruction, they have remained unchanged. Harrison County was settled predominantly by natives of the southern United States who duplicated the slaveholding, cotton-plantation society they had known before moving to Texas. By 1850 the county had more slaves than any other in the state, a distinction that it maintained through the next decade. The census of 1860 enumerated 8,784 slaves (59 percent of the total population), 145 planters who owned at least twenty bondsmen, and a cotton crop of 21,440 bales. Harrison County was among the richest and most productive in antebellum Texas. More at
Randolph B. Campbell, "HARRISON COUNTY," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hch08), accessed January 24, 2016. Uploaded on June 15, 2010. Modified on November 24, 2015. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.

Geography: Land and Water

As reported by the Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 915 square miles (2,370 km²), of which, 899 square miles (2,328 km²) of it is land and 16 square miles (42 km²) of it is water. The total area is 1.79% water.

Neighboring Counties

Education

The following school districts serve Harrison County:

Elysian Fields ISD (partly in Panola County)
Hallsville ISD
Harleton ISD
Marshall ISD
Longview ISD (mostly in Gregg County)
New Diana ISD (mostly in Upshur County)
Ore City ISD (mostly in Upshur County, small portion in Marion County)
Waskom ISD
Karnack ISD

Texas State

Texas Counties