Lubbock

Formed August 21, 1876 (205^th county)

Lubbock County (278,831), Lubbock (229,573)

Three courthouses (1891, 1915, and 1950) have served Lubbock County, from the City of Lubbock, since its August 21, 1876 organizing.  The latest, built in 1950, is very much a Modern governmental limestone and granite structure.  It is located on a square at the intersection of Avenue H and Broadway.  It is seven blocks north of United States Highway 62 in the middle of the city.  Haynes & Kirby planned the design of this structure.  The building was enlarged in 1968.  The county was cut from Bexar County as the 205^th county.  Lubbock County and city are named for Colonel Thomas S. Lubbock, one of the organizers of Terry’s Texas Rangers. 

The area of the county is 901 square miles.  It is 166 out of 254 in the state.  It ranks 18 out of 254 in population in the state.  It has a density of 309.47 persons per square mile making it 18 out of 254 in the state.  Lubbock County has 88.6% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 27 enters from Hale County, in the north, and terminates in Lubbock County.  United States Highways 62/82 come jointly in from Crosby County on the east and exit together into Hockley County on the west.  United States Highway 84 crosses diagonally northwest to southeast, Hockley County to Lynn County.  United States Highway 87 is joined with Interstate Highway 27 from Hale County (north) but continues south into Lynn County. 

Lubbock County government consists of a sheriff, a County Judge, and 4 Commissioners.  One District Court Judge serves Lubbock and Crosby counties and Five District Court Judges and Four County Court Judges serve Lubbock County.  The county is a tall rectangle located in the middle of the panhandle.  The county center is in Lubbock 1.4 miles Northeast of the city center.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Hale, Floyd, Crosby, Garza, Lynn, Terry, Hockley, and Lamb counties.  Lubbock city is near the center of the county.  Lubbock is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 82.3% of the county population.  This county is in the Lubbock Metropolitan Statistical Area.