Titus County

Titus County, Texas

Titus County, Texas

The Titus County Courthouse is located in Mount Pleasant, Texas. Photograph by Nicholas Henderson.
Titus County, Texas

Titus County, Texas

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

Titus County is located in northeastern Texas, one county removed from the state's northern boundary and two counties removed from the state's eastern boundary. Mount Pleasant, the county seat and the county's largest town, is located sixty miles southwest of Texarkana and 105 miles northeast of Dallas. The center of the county lies at approximately 33°14' north latitude and 94°57' west longitude. Two major highways, U.S. Highway 67 and U.S. Highway 30, cross the county from east to west. U.S. Highway 271 crosses the county from north to south. The county is also crossed by two railroads, the Union Pacific and the Texas Utilities. Titus County comprises 412 square miles of the East Texas timberlands, an area that is heavily forested with a great variety of softwoods and hardwoods, especially pine, cypress, and oak. The terrain ranges from nearly level to rolling; most of the county is gently undulating to rolling. Elevation ranges from 250 to 450 feet above mean sea level. Temperatures range from an average high of 95° F in July to an average low of 35° in January. Rainfall averages nearly forty-six inches per year, and the growing season extends for an average of 233 days. The northern half of the county drains into the Sulphur River, and the southern half drains into Big Cypress Creek. The surface soils are predominantly light colored and loamy, and the subsoils are reddish and clayey. Between 21 and 30 percent of the land is considered prime farmland. Mineral resources include ceramic clay, lignite coal, industrial sand, oil, and gas.

The area that makes up Titus County has been the site of human habitation for several thousand years, although perhaps not continuously. Archaic Period (ca. 5000 B.C.-A.D. 500) artifacts have been recovered. During historic times, the earliest occupants of the county were the Caddo Indians, an agricultural people with a highly developed culture. During the 1820s and 1830s White settlements elsewhere in Texas prompted other Indians, such as Creeks, Choctaws, and Cherokees, to settle in the area. In the 1840s White settlers gradually displaced the Indians. Earliest European exploration of the area that would become Titus County cannot be conclusively determined. If one of the northernmost of the numerous conflicting route interpretations of the Moscoso expedition in 1542 is correct, then that group passed through or very near Titus County. It could be, however, that the first European contact with the area did not occur until after the founding of Le Poste des Cadodaquious in what is now Bowie County by the French in 1719. Although the French occupied the fort for more than fifty years, little is known about their activities. It seems probable, however, that they did explore as far to the southwest as Titus County. The earliest Anglo settler in what is now Titus County is said to have been Kendall Lewis, who moved into the county in 1835 with his wife, probably a Creek Indian. Lewis's land grant, patented in February 1842, is said to have been the first land surveyed in the county. The family settled on Swauano Creek and remained in the county until problems with Indians caused the Lewises to leave the state in 1846. During the early 1840s settlement of the area proceeded rapidly, and in 1846 the First Legislature of the state of Texas established Titus County, which included all of the territory of present-day Morris and Franklin counties. The county was named for Andrew Jackson Titus, an early Red River County settler. Mount Pleasant was established as the county seat.

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Cecil Harper, Jr. | © 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

Titus County is classified as a County

Altitude Range

250 ft – 530 ft

Size

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

  • Land Area: 406.1 mi²
  • Total Area: 425.6 mi²

Temperature

January mean minimum: 31.1°F
July mean maximum: 92.9°F

Rainfall, 2019

47.7 inches

Population Count, 2019

32,750

Civilian Labor Count, 2019

12,583

Unemployment, 2019

8.2%

Property Values, 2019

$3,136,855,987 USD

Per-Capita Income, 2019

$34,718 USD

Retail Sales, 2019

$873,339,133 USD

Wages, 2019

$158,634,027 USD

Titus County

Highlighted:
  • Titus County
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Place Type Population (Year/Source) Currently Exists
Town
Town 90 (2014) Yes
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Town 60 (2014) Yes
Town
Town 60 (2014) Yes
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Town
Town
Town 35 (2014) Yes
Town
Town 105 (2014) Yes
Town
Town
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Town
Town
Town
Town
Town
Town
Town
Town
Town
Town 75 (2014) Yes
Town
Town 200 (2013) Yes
Town
Town
Town
Town 80 (2014) Yes
Town
Town
Town
Town
Town
Lake Yes
Town
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Town
Town 25 (2014) Yes
Town
Town 110 (2014) Yes
Town 72 (2021) Yes
Town 20 (2014) Yes
Lake Yes
Town 16,079 (2021) Yes
Town
Town
Town
Town
Town
Town
Town
Town
Town
Town 75 (2014) Yes
Town
Town
Town
Town
Town
Town 90 (2014) Yes
Town 488 (2021) Yes
Town
Town
Town
Town
Town
Lake Yes
Town 60 (2014) Yes
Town
Town 422 (2021) Yes
Lake Yes

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