Wilson County, Texas

Wilson County, located on the upper coastal plain of South Texas, is surrounded by Guadalupe County on the north, Gonzales County on the northeast, Karnes County on the southeast, Atascosa County on the southwest and Bexar County on the northwest. Floresville, the county seat and largest city, is 30 miles southeast of San Antonio.

Cities, Towns and Communities

Carpenter | Doseido Colony | Floresville – county seat | Grass Pond Colony | Kicaster | La Vernia | Lodi | Nixon (mostly in Gonzales County) | Pandora | Poth | Sandy Hills | Saspamco | Stockdale | Sutherland Springs

History

Wilson County was established by an act of the legislature on February 13, 1860. It was cut from Bexar and Karnes counties and named for Somervell expedition member and legislator, James C. Wilson. Sutherland Springs was designated the county seat, and Dr. G. J. Houston, one of the first residents of La Vernia, was appointed as commissioner to organize the new county. William Sutherland became chief justice, S. W. Barker was sheriff, and John Irwin’s storehouse became a temporary courthouse. By the eve of the Civil War Wilson County had a population of 1,500. John W. Longsworth, appointed judge and county clerk by the military government during congressional Reconstruction, moved the county records to Lodi in 1867, beginning a controversy about the location of the county seat that lasted for more than a decade. The county seat was returned to Sutherland Springs in March 1871 but moved back to Lodi in July 1871. An election was finally held in November 1873 to determine the location of county government, and the new town of Floresville, near the geographic center of the county, was selected as the new county seat. The citizens of Sutherland Springs called for a new election in 1883, but Floresville once again won by a margin of 250. The courthouse at Floresville was destroyed by fire in 1883, but the records were saved. The same year officials appointed noted San Antonio architect Alfred Giles to design a new courthouse in Floresville.

Location

Floresville, TX 29° 8′ 0.8808″ N, 98° 9′ 22.0284″ W

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