Johnson

Formed February 4, 1854 (98^th county)

Johnson County (179,999), Cleburne (31,293), Burleson (47,366)

The 1913 Prairie Schoolhouse and Renaissance courthouse of Johnson County is on the square in Cleburne at United States Highway 67 and Texas State Highway 174.  The tall clock tower is the dominating feature of this brown brick structure.  The architect was Otto Lang and Frank Witchell.  Four courthouses have served Johnson County since its February 4, 1854 founding.  The building was renovated in 2007.  The High School building was converted to the Justice Center in 2004.  The county was formed from parts of Navarro and McLennan counties as the 98^th county.  Wardville was the first county seat with a switch to Buchanan for an 1858 courthouse and finally to Cleburne in 1867 for the remaining three courthouses (1869, 1883, and 1913.)  Johnson County was named for Colonel Middleton Tate Johnson from the Mexican War and Confederacy fame.  Johnson City in Blanco County is named for different individuals.  The county seat was named for Confederate General Pat Cleburne. 

Johnson County government consists of a sheriff, a County Judge, and 4 Commissioners.  Two District Court Judges serve Johnson and Somervell counties and One District Court Judge and Three County Court Judges serve Johnson County.  The county is located in north central Texas just south of Fort Worth, Texas.  The Brazos River forms the southwest border.  The county center is 6 miles Northeast of Cleburne nearer Keene.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Tarrant, Ellis, Hill, Bosque, Somervell, Hood, and Parker counties. 

The area of the county is 729 square miles.  It is 210 out of 254 in the state.  It ranks 26 out of 254 in population in the state.  It has a density of 246.9 persons per square mile making it 27 out of 254 in the state.  Johnson County has 57.6% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 35 West goes from Tarrant County on the north into Hill County on the south.  United States Highway 67 diagonals from northeast, Ellis County, to southwest, Somervell County.  United States Highway 287 cuts the northeast tip from north to east, Tarrant County to Ellis County.  United States Highway 377 clips the northwest corner from Parker County in the northwest into Hood County in the west.  The county is rectangular on the north, east, and most of the west side.  The south border is turned 45-degrees to touch Hill County.  Cleburne is slightly south of center in the county.  Burleson is on the northern border of the county and extends into Tarrant County.  Cleburne is the county seat and Burleson is the largest city.  Cleburne is 17.4% of the county population while Burleson is 26.5% of the county population.  The county seat is pronounced KLEE-BURN.  This county is in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington Metropolitan Statistical Area.