Hunt County

Hunt County is located in northeastern Texas. Greenville, the county seat and largest town, is fifty-one miles northeast of Dallas on Interstate Highway 30. The county's center lies at approximately 36°06' north latitude and 96°05' west longitude. The county comprises 840 square miles of the Blackland Prairie region of the state, a vast plain. The stream valleys are shallow, and the drainage divides are well rounded. Elevation in the county ranges from a low of 450 feet above sea level in the southeastern part to a high of 700 feet in the northwestern part. The extreme northwestern portion of the county lies within the drainage basin of the Trinity River. The northeastern part of the county is drained by the Sulphur River, and the remainder is drained by the Sabine. The soil on the uplands in Hunt County is predominantly loamy or clayey and loamy. The soil on the bottomlands is clayey. The bottoms are not suited for cultivation in most parts of the county because they are subject to flooding. Mineral resources include gas, oil, and sand. Temperatures range from an average winter minimum of 33° F in January to an average summer maximum of 93° in July. Rainfall averages forty-three inches a year, and the growing season varies from 218 to 247 days.

Although the Mexican government made a few land grants in the area of Hunt County in 1835, settlement did not begin until 1839. When Anglo-American settlers first arrived, the area was inhabited by small bands of Kiowa Indians, who left shortly thereafter and posed few problems for the settlers. Settlement remained sparse during the years of the republic and early statehood. An estimated 350 people lived in the county when it was formed from Fannin and Nacogdoches counties in 1846 and named for Memucan Hunt, the first Texas minister to Washington. Greenville, established on land donated by McQuinney H. Wright and James G. Bourland, became the county seat. The original county boundaries were reduced by the establishment of Rains County in 1870, but afterward remained unchanged.