Formed January 1, 1921 (254th county)
Kenedy County (416), Sarita* (238)
The Texas Renaissance courthouse for Kenedy County was built in 1918. It sits at the corner of Turcotte and La Parra streets, two blocks to the west of United States Highway 77. The building was restored in 2010 when the red brick exterior was installed. A Justice Court Building augments the courthouse. Kenedy County was the last county to be formed on January 1, 1921 and this is the only courthouse that has been in the county. The county was taken from parts of Willacy, Cameron and Hidalgo counties as the 254th and final county. Henry T. Phelps designed the courthouse. Kenedy is named for Mifflin Kenedy who was a partner of Richard King of the King Ranch. Sarita gets its name from Mifflin Kenedy’s granddaughter.
Kenedy County government consists of a sheriff, a County Judge, and 4 Commissioners. One District Court Judge serves Kenedy, Kleberg, and Nueces counties and One County Court Judge serves Kenedy County. The county is far south Texas along the Gulf of Mexico. The entire east border is the Gulf of Mexico and Padre Island. The famous King Ranch is a large portion of this county. Brownsville, Texas is south of the county and Corpus Christi, Texas is northeast. The county center is 34 miles South-Southeast of Sarita nearer Norias. The county is surrounded clockwise by Kleberg County and the Gulf of Mexico and Willacy, Hidalgo, and Brooks counties. The county is dry with little vegetation.
The area of the county is 1946 square miles. It is 13 out of 254 in the state. It ranks 252 out of 254 in population in the state. It has a density of 0.21 persons per square mile making it 253 out of 254 in the state. Kenedy County has 0.0% of its population in its incorporated areas since there are no incorporated cities. United States Highway 77 crosses north to south from Kleberg County to Willacy County. It is shaped basically like a tall rectangle with a slight slant causing the north to be narrower than the south. Sarita is in the extreme north of the county. Sarita is the county seat and the largest populated area. It is 57.2% of the county population. The county seat is pronounced SA-REE-TA. This county is in the Kingsville Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Sarita (unincorporated)
