Starr

Formed February 1, 1848 (73^rd county)

Starr County (65,918), Rio Grande City (15,316)

The tan brick Modern structure, built in 1939, is on the square at 4^th and Britton streets.  It is located at the end of a long mall two blocks north of United States Highway 83.  The building’s designer was Stanley Bliss.  The building was enlarged in 1979 and renovated in 1986.  Rio Grande City has been the site of all three courthouses (1854, 1886, and 1939) since the county’s February 1, 1848 founding.  Starr County was cut from Nueces County as the 73^rd county.  The county was named for Texas Secretary of the Treasury, James Harper Starr.  Rio Grande City is a geographic name for the city’s location on the Rio Grande. 

Starr County government consists of a sheriff, a County Judge, and 4 Commissioners.  One District Court Judge serves Starr, Duval, and Jim Hogg counties and One District Court Judge and Two County Court Judges serve Starr County.  The county is in far south Texas.  The Rio Grande is its western and southern borders with Mexico.  Brownsville, Texas is southeast and Laredo, Texas is northwest of the county.  The county center is 17.9 miles North-Northeast of Rio Grande City nearer El Sauz.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Jim Hogg, Brooks, and Hidalgo counties and Mexico and Zapata County. 

The area of the county is 1223 square miles.  It is 40 out of 254 in the state.  It ranks 54 out of 254 in population in the state.  It has a density of 53.9 persons per square mile making it 72 out of 254 in the state.  Starr County has 46.6% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 83 enters from Zapata County on the west and exits into Hidalgo County on the east.  The county is a rectangle bent to the east about 30-degrees.  Rio Grande City is on the river on the southern border.  Rio Grande City is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 23.2% of the county population.  The county seat is pronounced REE-OE GRAND SI-TEE.  This county is in the Rio Grande City-Roma Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Roma