Culberson County
Van Horn, Culberson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Formed from El Paso County; Created March 10, 1911; Organized April 18, 1911; Named for David B. Culberson 1830-1903 famous constitutional lawyer, a Confederate officer, member of the Texas legislature, member of the United States congress; Van Horn, the county seat.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Carved from El Paso County and organized in 1911, Culberson County took its name from David B. Culberson (1830–1903), a celebrated constitutional lawyer who served as a Confederate officer, a Texas legislator, and a longtime member of the United States Congress. The dusty town of Van Horn became its county seat. Its creation extended orderly government across the vast, arid reaches of far West Texas.
Why it matters
The county's founding marks the final filling-in of the Texas map, when even the sparsely peopled desert West was organized into governed counties.
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Related people
- · David B. Culberson
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
San Antonio-California Trail
Van Horn, TX
Surveyed in 1848 by a party under the famed Ranger Jack Hays, the San Antonio–El Paso segment became one of Texas's first cross-country wagon roads, carrying emigrants and gold-seekers west. By 1857 it formed part of the pioneering San Antonio–San Diego mail line, whose passengers paid dearly to jolt across 1,500 miles of dust, floods, and danger in a crowded Concord coach over nearly a month. The service ran only until the Civil War broke out in 1861.
Presbyterian Church, U.S. 1092
Van Horn, TX
In the dry ranching country of far West Texas, Van Horn grew up along the rail and wagon routes near the Guadalupe Mountains. This building was the town's very first church, and in a small frontier settlement that could not yet support many congregations, it opened its doors to worshippers of every faith until other denominations built their own homes. It embodies the practical, shared spirituality of a young Western town.
Clark Hotel
Van Horn, TX
The Clark Hotel was the first permanent structure in Van Horn, its earliest 1901 portion housing the original city post office and its main block built in 1905–06 from concrete blocks handmade on site. When Culberson County was newly organized in 1911–12, the building served as the county courthouse, and over the years it hosted theatrical programs, school graduations, a saloon, offices, and shops before Fred Clark converted it into a hotel in 1918. Few buildings did more jobs in a young West Texas town.
Original Culberson County Jail
Van Horn, TX
When raids spilling across the Mexican border prompted the organization of Culberson County in 1911, one of the first orders of business was a place to hold prisoners. The commissioners approved this sturdy red brick jail in 1912, and though inmates occasionally clawed their way through its walls, it served the remote West Texas county for more than half a century until a new courthouse jail replaced it in 1964.