Limestone County is in Central Texas about thirty miles due east of Waco. Mexia, its largest community, is approximately eighty miles south of Dallas. Groesbeck, the county seat, is near the county’s center. The county comprises 931 square miles principally in the Blackland Prairies region. The area that became Limestone County was home to the Tawakoni, or Tehuacana, and Waco Indians. These were primarily agrarian people friendly to the whites who settled there. Tehuacana, in northeastern Limestone County, is on an old Indian village site. The Tawakonis were expert hunters and noted traders as well. Their enemies were the Apaches and Comanches, who often raided the Tawakoni settlements.

Limestone County was part of the Haden Edwards and Robert Leftwich empresario grants made by the Coahuila and Texas legislature in 1825. This legislation began settlement of the area and the struggle between the government of Mexico and the American settlers for dominance.

The government tried to restrict colonization through legislation, but settlers continued to come to Texas. Numerous individuals, both Mexican and Anglo, claimed land grants in the area before 1836. Among these were Silas M. Parker, Moses Herrin, Elisha Anglin, Luther T. M. Plummer, David Faulkenberry, Joshua Hadley and Samuel Frost, who came together as a group from Illinois in 1833 to establish a permanent settlement for their families. Fort Parker, near the Navasota River in what is now central Limestone County, was the earliest actual settlement in the vicinity.

While most of the men were out in the fields early on May 19, 1836, a large band of Comanches and their Kiowa allies approached the fort. After a short conversation under a flag of truce, the Indians attacked and killed most of the inhabitants. Several prisoners were taken, including Mrs. Rachel Plummer, who later wrote an account of her captivity, and nine-year-old Cynthia Ann Parker, who spent the next 24 years with the Comanches and married Peta Nocona. Their son, Quanah Parker, was a chief of the tribe.

The other 18 survivors wandered for six days, hiding in the riverbottoms, until they reached Fort Houston, from where a rescue party was sent back to survey the scene. After this raid, further settlement was delayed until a treaty with the Indians was signed in 1844 at the instigation of Sam Houston.

On April 11, 1846, Limestone County was formed from Robertson County, and a week later Springfield was established as the county seat. This town had a population of 120 when it was incorporated in 1848. In 1873, however, when the courthouse burned and the Houston and Texas Central Railway bypassed the town, an election was ordered and Groesbeck became the county seat. The organization of the county was completed on August 18, 1846, with the election of county officials. Limestone County originally included all the land between the Brazos and Trinity rivers on the east and west, and the land north of Robertson County to Navarro County. In 1848 part of northern and western Limestone County was taken to form McLennan and Falls counties, and in 1850 part of the eastern section was taken to form part of Freestone County. The boundaries were changed to their present form on November 2, 1866.

Early settlers of the area were self-sufficient farmers. They cultivated corn and wheat and raised cattle and hogs. Wild game was plentiful as well. The area began to develop slowly.

After the Civil War the majority of whites in Limestone County strongly opposed congressional Reconstruction. Many race-related murders took place in the county during the 1870s. In 1871 a man reportedly made public denouncements of the State Police and the local Republican officials. When officers attempted to arrest him, a riot broke out between the mob protecting him and the police. This incident and others were tentatively resolved, but bad feeling remained. The situation became so strained that the governor declared the county under martial law. Though the election went on as scheduled in the county, the state board rejected the returns because of reported violence.

Gas was discovered in 1913. Drilling tests were performed near Mexia after the discovery at Spindletop, additional test wells were drilled, and in November 1920 oil was discovered. Thousands of people moved into the area. The population reached its peak in 1930.

Limestone County has no metropolitan area; Mexia, with 8,375 residents in 1990, is the largest town. It is an agribusiness and trade center with a hospital, the only radio station in the county, a newspaper called the Mexia Daily News, the Limestone County Airport, and the Gibbs Memorial Library. Groesbeck hosts several special county events, including the Red Stocking Follies and the Arts and Crafts Fest in March, the Youth Stock Show in April, the Fiddle Festival in May, and the County Fair.

(The information above is excerpted from the Handbook of Texas, an encyclopedia published by the Texas State Historical Association. The Handbook can be accessed online at www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online. Copies of the two-volume set may be obtained by contacting the TSHA at 512-232-1513.)