Formed December 8, 1857 (118th county)
Bee County (31,061), Beeville (13,676)
The town square in Beeville has the capitol shaped county tan brick courthouse, built in 1912. The dome is a beehive shape to signify the county’s name. United States Highways 59 and 181 intersect at the square. William C. Stephenson, Jr., and Fritz Heldenfelds designed this third courthouse. The building was restored in 2006. All three courthouses established since the county’s December 8, 1857 founding have been sited in Beeville, the last being in 1879. The county was formed from parts of San Patricio, Goliad, Refugio, Live Oak, and Karnes counties as the 118th county. Bee County and Beeville were named for South Carolina native, Bernard E. Bee. He was the Secretary of State and War for the Republic of Texas.
Bee County government consists of a sheriff, a County Judge, and 4 Commissioners. Three District Court Judges serve Bee, Aransas, Live Oak, McMullen, and San Patricio counties and One County Court Judge serves Bee County. The county is on the Coastal Plains between San Antonio, Texas and Corpus Christi, Texas. The county center is 2.9 miles Northeast of Beeville. The county is surrounded clockwise by Karnes, Goliad, Refugio, San Patricio, and Live Oak counties.
The area of the county is 880 square miles. It is 173 out of 254 in the state. It ranks 92 out of 254 in population in the state. It has a density of 35.3 persons per square mile making it 99 out of 254 in the state. Bee County has 44.0% of its population in its incorporated areas. United States Highway 59 comes from Goliad County on the east and goes into Live Oak County on the west. United States Highway 181 crosses north to south from Karnes County to San Patricio County. The county is a diagonal polygon with rivers bordering the west and east sides. Beeville is near the geographical county center. Beeville is the county seat and, as the only incorporated city, it is the largest city. It is 44.0% of the county population. This county is in the Beeville Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Beeville
