Gray

Formed August 21, 1876 (192^nd county)

Gray County (21,229), Pampa (16,866)

A red/brown Classical Revival and Beaux Arts structure, built in 1928, is the courthouse for Gray County.  It is located at Francis and Frost, six blocks north of United States Highway 60 and six blocks east of Texas State Highway 70.  William R. Kaufman & Son made the building’s designs.  The building was restored in 2003.  Two courthouses have served Gray County since its August 21, 1876 formation.  Lefors was the original county seat until 1928 when Pampa became the seat.  Gray County was carved from Bexar County as the 192^nd county.  The county was named for Peter W. Gray, member of the first Texas legislature and Texas Supreme Court justice.  Pampa comes from the Spanish word “pampas,” which means “plains.”  This is an obvious geographic description of the county’s area. 

Gray County government consists of a sheriff, a County Judge, and 4 Commissioners.  One District Court Judge serves Gray, Hemphill, Lipscomb, Roberts, and Wheeler counties and One District Court Judge and One County Court Judge serve Gray County.  The north panhandle is home for Gray County.  Amarillo, Texas is southwest of the county.  The North Fork of the Red River crosses west to east in the county.  The county center is 18.5 miles South-Southeast of Pampa nearer Lefors.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Roberts, Hemphill, Wheeler, Collingsworth, Donley, Armstrong, Carson, and Hutchinson counties. 

The area of the county is 928 square miles.  It is 101 out of 254 in the state.  It ranks 113 out of 254 in population in the state.  It has a density of 22.9 persons per square mile making it 121 out of 254 in the state.  Gray County has 84.6% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 40 crosses the extreme south of the county, east to west, Wheeler County to Carson County, with a jut in and out of Donley County to the south.  United States Highway 60 comes from the north, Roberts County, and goes to the west, Carson County.  Another of the square shaped counties of the panhandle has Pampa located in the extreme northwest corner.  Pampa is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 79.5% of the county population.  The county seat is pronounced PAM-PA.  This county is in the Pampa Micropolitan Statistical Area.