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Hood County History and Information

Hood County Facts

Hood County was created in November 1866 and formed from Johnson County. Hood County was named for John Bell Hood, a Confederate lieutenant general and the commander of Hood's Texas Brigade. The County Seat is Granbury. The Official County website is located at http://www.co.hood.tx.us/. See also Extended History for more historical details.

Areas adjacent to Hood County are Parker County (north), Johnson County (east), Somervell County (south), Erath County (west), Palo Pinto County (northwest)

The Hood County Courthouse, together with the surrounding Victorian commercial structures, present one of the most complete nineteenth century courthouse squares in Texas. Dominated by the Second Empire style courthouse built in 1893, the square is lined with one and two-story native limestone buildings, built mainly in the late nineteenth century. A few commercial structures completed the rows of buildings in the early twentieth century, but they all conform to the architectural unity of the town square.

Designed by W. C. Dodson, a Waco architect, the courthouse was constructed in 1890-91. The three-story, limestone structure, patterned after the popular French Second Empire style, possesses a basic composition that Dodson had previously used in the county courthouses of Lampasas (1883), Parker (1885), and Hill (1890). The scheme is composed of a five-part plan: a projecting entrance pavilion, two mansard-roofed pavilions, and two recesses on each facade of the building. A three-story clock tower rises from the center of the roof with the first and top story treated as convex Mansard roofs. The rectilinear middle element has a three-part Venetian window with elaborate semicircular molded architraves. Attached pilasters and quoins embellish the corners of the projecting pavilions in addition to boldly framing the arched entrances.

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Hood County Court Records

Hood County Vital Records

Hood County Census Records

Hood County Maps & Atlases

Hood County Military Records

Hood County Tax Records

Hood County Genealogical Addresses

Hood County Church & Cemeteries

Family Trees & Genealogy Tidbits

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When view family trees online or not, be sure to only take the info at face value and always follow up with your own sources or verify the ones they provide. Below is a list of online resources for Hood County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information. Email us with websites containing Hood County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information by clicking the link below:

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Hood County, Texas Family Books at Amazon.com

Extended History

Before settlers from the East ventured onto the plains, the area was the home of the Comanches and, to a lesser extent, the Lipan Apaches and Kiowas. In the nineteenth century a band of Comanches known as the Penatekas or Honey-Eaters roamed the area west of the Cross Timbers, generally between the headwaters of the Colorado and Brazos rivers. Comanche Peak, the highest point in Hood County, was a Comanche meetingplace. The Lipan Apaches also roamed the area, and the town of Lipan in extreme northwestern Hood County was named after a group that once lived in the Kickapoo Valley. Settlers from the East began to arrive in the area ten or fifteen years before the Civil War. One of the first, Charles E. Barnard, set up a trading post and Barnard's Mill at a site now in Somervell County. George B. Erath, for whom an adjacent county is named, was one of the first to survey on the Brazos River (1846-50). Other settlers, mostly stock raisers and farmers, began to settle in the Brazos and Paluxy river valleys in 1854. The main concern facing these early settlers was the frequent raids by the Comanches. Indian horse-stealing raids into the Paluxy and Squaw Creek country occurred all during the Civil War and until 1872, when a party of Indians stole horses from a section of land close to Cresson, in northeast Hood County.

Hood County was formed in November 1866 by an act of the Eleventh Texas Legislature. The area had been within the Municipality of San Felipe de Austin as early as 1823 and the Municipality of Viesca in 1834. After Texas became a republic, the area now known as Hood County had, at one time or another, been part of Robertson, Navarro, McLennan, Johnson, and Erath counties. The county was named after Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood of the Confederate Army. The county seat was to be named in honor of Confederate general Hiram Bronson Granbury. Location of the new county seat was a controversial issue. Residents in the southern section of the county favored the center of the county, as stated in the law. The other choice was a parcel of land donated by influential county leaders Thomas Lambert and J. F. and J. Nutt. The commission established to designate the county seat, citing a poor water supply at the center of the county, voted in favor of the donated land. The controversy surrounding the site of Granbury eventually caused the residents of the southern section of the county to petition for a new county. As a result, in 1875, Somervell County was established by an act of the Texas legislature. In that same year a fire destroyed the courthouse in Granbury. From the first days of organized government Hood County has voted Democratic at the local and state level. Immediately after the Civil War the county was overwhelmingly Democratic, owing mainly to the predominantly white population. In 1870 whites made up 96 percent of the population. The highest total of blacks in Hood County was 241 in 1900, or only 3 percent of the population. The last three decades of the nineteenth century saw a steady increase in the population, and in 1910 the total was just over 10,000. The number of farms also reached its zenith (1,786) in 1910. The primary crops were cotton, corn, and oats. Numbers of livestock also reached a peak between 1900 and 1910. In the latter year there were more than 22,500 cattle in Hood County. Residents were able to send their produce and livestock to market on the Fort Worth and Rio Grande Railway, which had been completed in 1887.

By the turn of the century Hood County had several towns: Granbury, Acton, Tolar, Lipan, and Cresson. The education system in the county and towns was well established. During the school year 1882-83, there were forty-six male and four female teachers, who earned an average of $1,094 a year. After the 1920s many of the smaller schools were consolidated, especially as transportation improved. On the level of higher education, Add-Ran College was established in 1873 and in 1890 donated to the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The college, renamed Add-Ran Christian University, was moved to Waco in 1896 and in 1910 to Fort Worth, where it became Texas Christian University. Thorp Spring Christian College was established in 1910 by members of the Church of Christ. It eventually closed in 1930 and moved to Terrell, where it became Texas Christian College. After 1910 Hood County's population fell to 8,759 in 1920, to 6,779 in 1930, and to its twentieth-century low of 5,287 in 1950. The number of farms fell by almost a third between 1910 and 1920 to 1,234, then dropped more gradually to 830 in 1950. The number of cattle increased, however, to more than 25,000 in 1950 after dropping as low as 11,000 in 1920.

From 1960 to 1980 the population increased threefold, from 5,443 to 17,714. Between 1970 and 1980 Hood County ranked sixth among all United States counties in the category of highest growth rate. One of the main reasons for the sudden increase was the completion in 1969 of Lake Granbury, which turned the county into a popular recreation and resort center as well as a retirement community. The primary area of economic growth was in the retail sector. In 1970 the county had 192 retail establishments, and in 1980, 777. Other areas of substantial growth between 1970 and 1980 included: construction, 836 percent; financial and real estate, 394 percent; and services, 430 percent. Manufacturing establishments, never of major economic importance in the county, numbered eleven in 1977, when products valued at $3.5 million were produced. The influx of people into Hood County between 1970 and 1980 had a tremendous impact on the area's educational levels. In 1950 just under 27 percent of residents over twenty-five had a high school or college education, and in 1970, 38 percent had finished high school. Over the next ten years the number soared to 7,128 or 62 percent.

In 1982, 84 percent of the land in Hood County was used for farming and ranching. Pecans were grown on 5,000 acres, making Hood County a leader in pecan production. Other principal crops included hay, wheat, oats, and peanuts, and the primary livestock was cattle and milk cows. Commerce also continued its growth. In 1986 the retail industry consisted of 1,600 businesses in addition to 625 eating and drinking establishments. The restoration of downtown Granbury increased tourism and retail sales, and by 1990 the county's population had grown to 28,981.

The voters of Hood County favored the Democratic candidate in virtually every presidential election from 1876 through 1968. The only exceptions occurred in 1876, when Republican Ulysses S.Grant tied Democrat Horace Greeley, and in 1928, when 57 percent voted for the Republican candidate, Herbert Hoover, who faced a Catholic opponent, Al Smith. After 1972, when Republican Richard Nixon carried the county over Democrat Hubert Humphrey, the area began to trend Republican. Though Democrat Jimmy Carter carried the county in 1976, the area went Republican in every other presidential election from 1972 through 2004.

The census counted 41,100 people living in Hood County in 2000. About 91 percent were Anglo and 7 percent were Hispanics; blacks and other minorities made up less than 2 percent of the population. Almost 84 percent of the residents age twenty-five and older had completed four years of high school, and more than 20 percent had college degrees. In the early twenty-first century tourism and the Comanche Peak nuclear plant were key elements of the local economy; many residents commuted to work in Fort Worth. In 2002 the county had 935 farms and ranches covering 202,131 acres, 55 percent of which were devoted to pasture, 38 percent to crops, and 14 percent to woodlands. In that year farmers and ranchers in the area earned $21,729,000; livestock sales accounted for $17,606,000 of the total. Beef cattle, nursery crops, hay, turf, pecans, and peanuts were the chief agricultural products. The primary population centers include Granbury (2000 population, 5,718), the county seat; Pecan Plantation (3,544); Acton (1,129); Lipan (425); Tolar (504); Paluxy (76); and the relatively new community of Oak Trail Shores (2,475). Points of particular interest include the Granbury Opera House and the antique stores in the Hood County Courthouse Historic District. Granbury hosts a Civil War reenactment every October.

Hood County History and Information

Hood County Court Records

See Also Texas Land Records, Marriage Records, Court & Probate Records

Hood County Vital Records

See Also Vital Records in Texas

Hood County Census Records

See Also Research In Census Records & Statewide Records that exist for Texas

Hood County Maps & Atlases

See Also Research In State Map Collections

Hood County Military Records

See Also Military Records in Texas

Hood County Tax Records

See Also Research In Tax Records

Hood County Genealogical Addresses

See Also Other Texas Genealogical Addresses

Hood County Church & Cemeteries

See Also Church & Cemetery Records in Texas

Family Trees & Genealogy Tidbits

Extended History