Formed August 21, 1890 (172nd county)
Armstrong County (1,901), Claude (1,196)
The dominating gabled Classical Revival courthouse, built in 1912, is easily spotted just southwest of United States Highway 287 in this rural county and city. The tan brick building’s designer was Elmer George Withers. Since the founding of the county on August 21, 1890, only Claude has served as the county seat. There has been one previous courthouse in Claude built in the 1890s. Armstrong County was carved out of Bexar County as the 172nd county. The origin of the name for Armstrong County is for a local settler’s family. Claude was named after Claude Ayres, the railroad engineer who brought the first train to the region.
Armstrong County government consists of a sheriff, a County Judge, and 4 Commissioners. One District Court Judge serves Armstrong, Potter, and Randall counties and One County Court Judge serves Armstrong County. The county is in the panhandle south and east of Amarillo, Texas. The county center is 14.5 miles South-Southwest of Claude. The county is surrounded clockwise by Carson, Gray, Donley, Briscoe, Swisher, Randall, and Potter counties.
The area of the county is 914 square miles. It is 139 out of 254 in the state. It ranks 237 out of 254 in population in the state. It has a density of 2.08 persons per square mile making it 229 out of 254 in the state. Armstrong County has 62.9% of its population in its incorporated areas. United States Highway 287 comes from the extreme northwest corner and Carson County and goes to the east and Donley County. There are few communities in this square shaped county. Claude is in the northern half. Claude is the county seat and, as the only incorporated city, it is the largest city. It is 62.9% of the county population. This county is in the Amarillo Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Claude
