Early History of Kimble County
Junction, Kimble County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Created in 1858 out of Bexar County, Kimble County was attached temporarily to Gillespie County for judicial purposes. It was named for Lt. George C. Kimble, slain March 6, 1836, in the siege of the Alamo. The county was organized in 1876, and the first regular term of district court was held, spring 1877, under a live oak tree 1 3/4 miles north of here. Judge W. A. Blackburn presided, aided by Texas Rangers. The first county officials, elected February 15, 1876, were Will Potter, judge; Frank Latta, sheriff and tax collector; E. K. Kountz, clerk; N. Q. Patterson, treasurer; M. J. Denman, surveyor; and William Graham, attorney. The county commissioners were James R. Steffey of precinct 1; Felix Burton of precinct 2; H. E. Pearl of precinct 3; and A. Vancourt of precinct 4. The first courthouse, a frame building erected in 1878, was destroyed, with all the county records, by fire on April 22, 1884. Commissioners court passed an order on May 13, 1884, to replace the old building with a new, two-story stone structure. On June 2, 1888, this also was partially destroyed by fire, and on April 11, 1889, it was ordered repaired under the direction of B. A. Davey. this building stood until replaced by the present courthouse in 1929. (1968)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Carved from Bexar County in 1858 and named for a young lieutenant who fell at the Alamo, Kimble County waited until 1876 to organize itself formally — its very first district court convening the next spring beneath a live oak north of here, with Texas Rangers on hand to keep order on a raw frontier. The early government struggled to hold onto a home: fire destroyed its first frame courthouse and all the county records in 1884, and a second stone building burned partially in 1888 before the present courthouse rose in 1929.
Why it matters
The marker captures how self-government took root across the Texas Hill Country frontier, where institutions of law and record-keeping had to be rebuilt, sometimes literally from ashes, generation by generation.
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Related people
- · George C. Kimble
- · W. A. Blackburn
- · Will Potter
Related events
- · Siege of the Alamo
- · Organization of Kimble County (1876)
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Kimble County Courthouse
Junction, TX
This is the third courthouse to serve Kimble County, designed by San Antonio architect Henry Truman Phelps, who created courthouses for more than ten Texas counties in the early 20th century. Though based on Classical plans, the building marks a shift in his style toward the Art Moderne of the late 1920s, seen in its geometric ornament, cast-stone pilasters, and stepped parapet. It stands as the civic centerpiece of a Hill Country county seat.
John Sterling Durst Pioneer Minister
Junction, TX
Born in Leon County in 1841 to pioneer Texan parents, John Sterling Durst served in the Confederate Army before a sermon called him to the ministry of the Church of Christ. When he moved his family to still-frontier Kimble County in 1883, he preached both locally and on summer tours across the state, and he won his neighbors' trust as county judge and school superintendent.
Stevenson, Coke R., Texas Statesman
Junction, TX
Born in Kimble County in 1888 with barely two years of formal schooling, Coke R. Stevenson worked his way from a boyhood ranch job to owning a freight line, then rose through banking, law, and county office. He became the first Texan to hold the state's three highest offices, and as governor from 1941 to 1947 he turned a large deficit into a surplus while championing measures from the first driver's-license law to the Lower Colorado River Authority.
Colonel John Griffith
Junction, TX
Born in 1831, John Griffith served as a Confederate officer, and returned from the Civil War to a family scattered by the conflict — his wife and children having fled Arkansas to Texas behind a milk cow and a one-eyed mule, famously reunited in 1866 when the mule was recognized near the Comanche courthouse. Settling at Buffalo Gap, he helped organize Taylor County in 1878 before moving to Kimble County, building property and civic influence. His story typifies the Southern veterans who rebuilt their lives on the West Texas frontier after the war.