Freestone

Formed January 1, 1850 (84^th county)

Freestone County (19,445), Fairfield (2,853), Teague (3,388)                

W. R. Kaufman provided the designs for the stately red brick Classical Revival building.  Built in 1919, it is the fourth county courthouse in Freestone County.  Fairfield has been the site for all four courthouses (1851, 1855, 1891 & 1919.)  The current courthouse is located on United States Highway 84 at Mount Street.  Two annexes augment the courthouse.  Founded on January 1, 1850, Freestone is named for the soil native to the area.  The county was carved from Limestone County as the 84^th county.  Fairfield gets its name from early settlers who named it after Fairfield, Alabama. 

Freestone County government consists of a sheriff, a County Judge, and 4 Commissioners.  One District Court Judge serves Freestone, Anderson, Leon, and Limestone counties, One District Court Judge serves Freestone and Limestone counties, and One County Court Judge serves Freestone County.  The county is located on the eastern side of the river area of east central Texas.  The Trinity River is the east border of the county with Anderson County.  Dallas, Texas is north by west, Waco, Texas is straight west, and Houston, Texas is south by east from the county.  The county center is in Fairfield 2 miles Southwest of the city center.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Henderson, Anderson, Leon, Limestone, and Navarro counties. 

The area of the county is 885 square miles.  It is 170 out of 254 in the state.  It ranks 125 out of 254 in population in the state.  It has a density of 22.0 persons per square mile making it 124 out of 254 in the state.  Freestone County has 39.1% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 45 comes from Navarro County on the north and goes into Leon County on the south.  United States Highway 79 cuts the far southeast tip from Anderson County on the east into Leon County on the south.  United States Highway 84 crosses east to west, Anderson County to Limestone County.  United States Highway 287 clips the northern tip from Anderson County to Navarro County, east to north.  The county is another 45-degree turned rectangle.  Fairfield is located close to the county center.  Teague is in the southwest quarter of the county.  Fairfield is the county seat and Teague is the largest city.  Fairfield is 14.7% of the county population while Teague is 17.4% of the county population.  The largest city is pronounced TEEG.