Roberts County

Roberts County, Texas

Roberts County, Texas

The Roberts County Courthouse is located in Miami, Texas. Photograph by Ammodramus.
Roberts County, Texas

Roberts County, Texas

Map of Roberts County, Texas. Map Credit: Robert Plocheck.

Roberts County is in the northeastern Panhandle, bounded on the north by Ochiltree County, on the east by Hemphill County, on the south by Gray County, and on the west by Hutchinson County. The center of the county lies at 35° 30' north latitude and 100° 32' west longitude. The county was named for two distinguished Texans with the surname Roberts, John S. Roberts and Oran Milo Roberts. Miami is the county seat. The county is crossed by U.S. Highway 60, State Highway 70, and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Roberts County covers 924 square miles of rolling plains with elevations that range from 2,467 to 3,219 feet above sea level. Annual rainfall is 20.7 inches. January's average minimum temperature is 19° F; July's average maximum is 94° F. The county has a growing season of 192 days, the soils are black, sandy loam with clayey subsoils, and between 11 and 20 percent of the land is considered prime farmland. The county is in the Rolling Plains vegetation area, with tall grasses and mesquite and live oak trees and is drained by the Canadian River and its numerous tributaries.

Prehistoric cultures occupied this region, followed by Plains Apaches. In the early eighteenth century the Apaches were pushed out by the Comanches, who then dominated the area of the Texas Panhandle until the 1870s. The nomadic Comanches hunted the immense herds of buffalo that ranged through the area that would become Roberts County. The actions of Ranald S. Mackenzie and federal troops in the Red River War of 1874–75 removed the Indian threat. At the same time buffalo hunters killed off the great herds of bison. In 1876 Roberts County was carved from Bexar County and the Clay Land District and attached to Wheeler County for judicial purposes. The first settler was Bill Anderson, who arrived the same year. Henry Whiteside Cresswell established the first ranch on Home Ranch Creek in 1877. Cresswell included most of Roberts County in his Cresswell Ranch and ran 45,000 cattle on land spanning several counties. Marion Armstrong opened a stagecoach stand on Red Deer Creek at the site of future Miami in 1879. There were only thirty-two people in the county in 1880, all of them working on cattle ranches. In 1885 Cresswell moved his ranch headquarters north to Ochiltree County.

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Mark Odintz | © TSHA

Handbook of Texas Logo

Adapted from the official Handbook of Texas, a state encyclopedia developed by Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). It is an authoritative source of trusted historical records.

Currently Exists

Yes

Place type

Roberts County is classified as a County

Altitude Range

2380 ft – 3260 ft

Size

Land area does not include water surface area, whereas total area does

  • Land Area: 924.1 mi²
  • Total Area: 924.2 mi²

Temperature

January mean minimum: 22.1°F
July mean maximum: 92.1°F

Rainfall, 2019

24.1 inches

Population Count, 2019

854

Civilian Labor Count, 2019

386

Unemployment, 2019

4.9%

Property Values, 2019

$749,786,417 USD

Per-Capita Income, 2019

$41,971 USD

Retail Sales, 2019

$1,716,965 USD

Wages, 2019

$3,160,438 USD

Roberts County

Highlighted:
  • Roberts County
Place Type Population (Year/Source) Currently Exists
Town
Town
Town
Town
Town
Town 521 (2021) Yes
Town
Town
Town
Town
Town
Town
Town
Town 40 (2014) Yes

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