Hill County
Hillsboro, Hill County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Created February 7, 1853. Organized May 14, 1853. Named in honor of Dr. George W. Hill, 1814-1860. Member of the Texas Congress and Legislature. Secretary of War of the Republic of Texas, 1843-1845. Lexington, first village 1853. Hillsboro, county seat since.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Hill County was created and organized in 1853 and named for Dr. George W. Hill, who had served in the Congress and legislature of Texas and as Secretary of War of the Republic. The village of Lexington was its first settlement, but Hillsboro has been the county seat since its earliest days. The marker records the county's founding at the moment Texas was organizing its interior into governable units.
Why it matters
County namings like this one memorialize the Republic-era leaders whose service was folded into the map of the new state as Texas built out local government.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · George W. Hill
Related events
- · Creation of Hill County (1853)
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Hill County Courthouse
Hillsboro, TX
Built in 1890 of rusticated limestone, this was the fourth courthouse for Hill County and the third in Hillsboro, replacing an 1874 brick building as the growing county demanded grander quarters. Waco architect W. C. Dodson gave it a modified French Second Empire style, its three stories crowned by a striking seven-story clock tower.
Site of Old Lexington Village
Hillsboro, TX
Founded about 1851 on Jack's Branch, Lexington was Hill County's very first settlement—and, when the county organized in 1853, its only polling place. For four months two log cabins did double duty as a courthouse, until a special election moved the county seat to Hillsboro and Lexington faded away. The marker itself was relocated to the courthouse square in 2006.
City of Hillsboro
Hillsboro, TX
Carved from Navarro County in 1853, Hill County took its name from Dr. George Washington Hill, a Republic of Texas Secretary of War. Its seat, Hillsboro, rose on donated land and grew rich on cotton, exploding after the Missouri, Kansas & Texas and other railroads arrived in the early 1880s—a boom preserved today in its Queen Anne homes and the grand 1890 courthouse. The town produced a remarkable roster of Texas leaders, including Lt. Governor Bob Bullock.
Hill County Jail
Hillsboro, TX
Built in 1893 as Hill County's third jail, this brick-and-limestone building was designed by Waco architect W. C. Dodson, who also drew the county courthouse. Its Victorian and medieval-revival lines dress up a practical plan: living quarters for the sheriff and jailer in front, steel-clad prisoner cells in back. It was named a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1981.