Dickens

Formed August 21, 1876 (186^th county)

Dickens County (1,769), Dickens (213), Spur (864)

The old tan stone courthouse of this small county is located on United States Highway 82 at Texas State Highway 70.  The county was formed on August 21, 1876 and this courthouse was built in 1893.  E. L. Aiken provided the design for the building.  The structure was remodeled and enlarged in 1936 and an Annex was being built in 2015.  Dickens has always been the county seat.  The county was created from Bexar County as the 186^th county.  Dickens County and city got their name from Alamo veteran J. Dickens or James R. Demkins or James R. Dimpkins.  No one is sure of his exact name. 

Dickens County government consists of a sheriff, a County Judge, and 4 Commissioners.  One District Court Judge serves Dickens, Briscoe, Floyd, and Motley counties and One County Court Judge serves Dickens County.  The county is situated in the panhandle of Texas due east of Lubbock, Texas and northwest of Abilene, Texas.  The county center is 8.3 miles East-Southeast of Dickens.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Motley, Cottle, King, Stonewall, King, Garza, Crosby, and Floyd counties. 

The area of the county is 904 square miles.  It is 135 out of 254 in the state.  It ranks 235 out of 254 in population in the state.  It has a density of 2.0 persons per square mile making it 228 out of 254 in the state.  Dickens County has 60.9% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 82 crosses east to west King County to Crosby County.  The county is a square and Dickens is near the county center.  Spur is located in the southern quarter of the county.  Dickens is the county seat and Spur is the largest city.  Dickens is 12.0% of the county population while Spur is 48.8% of the county population.