Formed January 1, 1911 (246th county)
Brooks County (7,086), Falfurrias (4,613)
The pillared courthouse was built in 1914 following the founding of the county. It is sited along United States Highway 281, one block south of Texas State Highway 285, at the southeast corner of Miller Street. The dark brown bricks blend into the tree covered grounds around the building. Alfred Giles created the design. It was restored in 2010. This is the only courthouse to serve the county. An Annex was built nearby. The county was taken from parts of Hidalgo, Starr and Zapata counties on January 1, 1911 as the 246th county. Brooks County was named for a local Texas Ranger captain, judge, and legislator; James Abijah Brooks. The county seat name reportedly means “the heart’s delight” in Native American Lipan Apache.
Brooks County government consists of a sheriff, a County Judge, and 4 Commissioners. One District Court Judge serves Brooks and Jim Wells counties and One County Court Judge serves Brooks County. The county is located in far south Texas in the transition zone between coastal plains and desert. Corpus Christi, Texas is northeast, Laredo, Texas is northwest, and Brownsville, Texas and McAllen, Texas are south. The county center is 20.7 miles Southwest of Falfurrias nearer Encino. The county is surrounded clockwise by Jim Wells, Kleberg, Kenedy, Hidalgo, Starr, Jim Hogg, and Duval counties.
The area of the county is 943 square miles. It is 88 out of 254 in the state. It ranks 184 out of 254 in population in the state. It has a density of 7.5 persons per square mile making it 181 out of 254 in the state. Brooks County has 65.1% of its population in its incorporated areas. United States Highway 281 transits north to south from Jim Wells County to Hidalgo County. The county is basically square shaped. Falfurrias is slightly north of center. Falfurrias is the county seat and, as the only incorporated city, it is the largest city. It is 65.1% of the county population. The county seat is pronounced FAL-FUR-E-US.
Falfurrias
