Formed August 21, 1876 (197th county)
Hemphill County (3,383), Canadian (2,332)
The red brick Italianate courthouse was built in 1909 and is two blocks southeast of United States Highway 60 at Main and Fourth streets. The clock tower adds to the designs of this R. G. Kirsch designed structure. The county was organized on August 21, 1876 and Canadian has served as the county seat. The county was created from Bexar County as the 197th county. Hemphill County was named for Republic of Texas justice John Hemphill. He also is the namesake of Hemphill, county seat of Sabine County. The county seat was named for the nearby Canadian River.
Hemphill County government consists of a sheriff, a County Judge, and 4 Commissioners. One District Court Judge serves Hemphill, Gray, Lipscomb, Roberts, and Wheeler counties and One County Court Judge serves Hemphill County. The county is located in the northeast panhandle against the border with Oklahoma. Amarillo, Texas is to the southwest. The Canadian River is the most predominant in the county but the Washita River also crosses the county into Oklahoma. The county center is 15.1 miles Southeast of Canadian nearer Ramsey. The county is surrounded clockwise by Lipscomb County and Oklahoma and Wheeler, Gray, Roberts, and Ochiltree counties.
The area of the county is 910 square miles. It is 127 out of 254 in the state. It ranks 212 out of 254 in population in the state. It has a density of 3.7 persons per square mile making it 209 out of 254 in the state. Hemphill County has 68.9% of its population in its incorporated areas. United States Highway 60 enters from Lipscomb County in the north and exits into Roberts County to the west. United States Highway 83 comes from the north, Lipscomb County, and goes to the south, Wheeler County. The county is square with Canadian in the northwest quarter. Canadian is the county seat and, as the only incorporated city, it is the largest city. It is 68.9% of the county population. The county seat is pronounced KA-NAE-DEE-AN.
Canadian
