Terrell County
Sanderson, Terrell County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Formed from Pecos County. Created April 8,1905, organized September 19, 1905. Named in honor of Alexander Watkins Terrell 1827-1912. A distinguished officer in the confederate army member of the Texas legislature for sixteen years. Sanderson, the County Seat.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Terrell County was carved from Pecos County in 1905, part of the wave of new counties organized across West Texas as railroads and ranching pushed settlement into the arid Trans-Pecos. It was named for Alexander Watkins Terrell (1827–1912), a Confederate officer who went on to serve sixteen years in the Texas Legislature. The town of Sanderson, a stop on the Southern Pacific line, became its seat of government.
Why it matters
The marker captures how the far reaches of West Texas were formally settled and governed only in the early twentieth century, long after the state's older regions.
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Related people
- · Alexander Watkins Terrell
Themes & tags
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