Chambers

Formed January 22, 1858 (124^th county)

Chambers County (46,571), Anahuac (1,975), Mont Belvieu (7,726)

The Art Deco and Modern, limestone courthouse was built in 1936.  It is located on Washington Avenue south of Texas State Highway 61 near a northeast arm of Galveston Bay.  Cornell G. Curtis was the building’s designer.  Four courthouses have been in Chambers County since its formation on January 22, 1858 from parts of Jefferson and Liberty counties as the 124^th county.  Wallisville had the original two (1858 and 1886) and Anahuac has had the last two (1911 and 1936.)  The county was named for Thomas Jefferson Chambers, the only superior judge for Texas before the revolution.  Anahuac, pronounced AN-A-WAC, is a Native American word for the ancient capital of the Aztecs.  Chambers County is the birthplace of 1 Texas Governor, Ross S. Sterling. 

Chambers County government consists of a sheriff, a County Judge, and 4 Commissioners.  One District Court Judge serves Chambers and Liberty counties and One District Court Judge and One County Court Judge serve Chambers County.  The county is in the far southeast part of the state between Beaumont, Texas and Houston, Texas.  The Galveston Bay is on the west and south.  The Gulf of Mexico is on the southeast.  The county center is in Anahuac 1.6 miles South of the city center.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Liberty and Jefferson counties and the Gulf of Mexico and Galveston and Harris counties. 

The area of the county is 599 square miles.  It is 229 out of 254 in the state.  It ranks 73 out of 254 in population in the state.  It has a density of 77.7 persons per square mile making it 56 out of 254 in the state.  Chambers County has 42.0% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 10 goes east to west from Jefferson County to Harris County.  The county is basically rectangular with Anahuac in the north.  Mont Belvieu is in the northwest corner of the county.  Anahuac is the county seat and Mont Belvieu is the largest city.  Anahuac is 4.2% of the county population while Mont Belvieu is 16.6% of the county population.  The county seat is pronounced AN-A-WAC.  The largest city is pronounced MONT BEL-VUE.  This county is in the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown Metropolitan Statistical Area.