| Red River County is located in the
northeastern corner of Texas, on the Oklahoma border. Clarksville is the county
seat.
During the First Congress of the Republic of Texas, the Red River district
was little more than a vaguely defined area encompassing all or part of
the land of thirty-nine present counties. Red River County was formally
delineated by an act signed by President Sam Houston on December 14, 1837,
which divided the Red River District into two counties, Fannin and Red River.
Red River County, as defined by the 1837 act, included all or part of lands
now belonging to Lamar, Hopkins, Delta, Franklin, Titus, Morris, Cass, Marion,
and Bowie counties. The act called for the first county courts to be held
at LaGrange (later Madras) until a commission to be appointed by the county
court could ascertain the proper location for a county seat. When the commissioners
chose Clarksville in 1838, some residents of LaGrange tried unsuccessfully
to reverse the ruling. New counties established in 1840 and 1846 reduced
Red River County to its current size. From its founding the county grew
in population slowly but steadily. By 1860 residents numbered 8,535. As
in many other parts of North Texas, problems with adequate transportation
probably served to inhibit the county's growth. The Red River was generally
navigable for a part of the year, but when the river was low, produce and
supplies had to be hauled to and from Jefferson, 100 miles to the southeast.
The population of the county was overwhelmingly rural.
Source: Cecil Harper, Jr., "RED RIVER
COUNTY," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hcr05),
accessed March 06, 2014. Uploaded on June 15, 2010. Published by the Texas
State Historical Association.
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