History of Counties in Texas

Before statehood, the Republic of Texas was divided into several large land districts. When Texas became a state in the Union in 1845, the Texas Legislature began dividing the land districts into counties. *162 The three land districts relevant to this dispute are Fannin, Nacogdoches, and Robertson. A copy of an exhibit showing these land districts is attached to this opinion as Appendix 1. The northern boundaries of the Robertson and Nacogdoches Land Districts were common with the southern boundary of the Fannin Land District. Dallas and Denton Counties were created during the first legislative session in 1846.¹ The legislature created Tarrant County in 1849.²

The Act creating Dallas and Denton Counties declared that Dallas County was to be created out of the Robertson and Nacogdoches Land Districts and Denton County was to be created out of the Fannin Land District.³ Dallas County was described as beginning on the southern Fannin boundary line at a point starting three miles east of the eastern boundary of the Peters’ Colony Grant and then south thirty miles, then west thirty miles and then north thirty miles to the Fannin line and then to run east on that line back to its northeastern corner beginning point.⁴ Denton County, which was to be contained within the Fannin Land District, started at the southwest corner of Collin County, running west for thirty miles, then north for thirty miles, and then east thirty miles, then south back to the beginning.

When Tarrant County was created on December 20, 1849, it was statutorily described as beginning at Dallas County’s southwest corner, then north with the Dallas County line to the northwest corner of Dallas County, then due west for thirty miles and then due south thirty miles, then east back to the beginning.⁶ From this we can generally conclude that each of the three counties was to contain 900 square miles with Denton County located within the Fannin Land District, Tarrant County within the Robertson Land District, and Dallas County within the Nacogdoches and Robertson Land Districts. A drawing attached as Appendix 2 is representative of the legislative scheme. The statute creating Tarrant County also dictates that Tarrant County’s northeast and southeast corners are to bear with Dallas County’s northwest and southwest corners if Dallas County’s corners were later determined to be incorrect.⁷

On December 1, 1849, the legislature passed an Act Providing for Running and Establishing Correctly, the Line Between *163 Nacogdoches and Fannin Land Districts.⁸ This statute directed the Commissioner of the General Land Office (GLO) to appoint a surveyor to run, mark, and fully establish the line separating the Nacogdoches and Fannin Land Districts, in accordance with the Act Better Defining the Boundaries of the County of Fannin passed by the Republic of Texas on November 28, 1839.⁹

….