Nolan

Formed August 21, 1876 (211^th county)

Nolan County (15,216), Sweetwater (10,906)

The Modern courthouse, on the square at Broadway and Locust streets, was built in 1977.  Interstate Highway 20 bypasses the city to the south.  This is the fourth courthouse for the county and for Sweetwater since the county was formed on August 21, 1876.  Welch and Hampton designed this building.  The courthouse underwent a major renovation in 2014.  The county was created from Bexar County as the 211^th county.  Nolan County is named for Philip Nolan who is considered to be one of the first mappers of the State of Texas.  A local buffalo hunters’ camp provided Sweetwater’s name. 

Nolan County government consists of a sheriff, a County Judge, and 4 Commissioners.  One District Court Judge serves Nolan, Fisher, and Mitchell counties and Two County Court Judges serve Nolan County.  The county is in west Texas just west of Abilene, Texas.  The county center is 8.1 miles East-Southeast of Sweetwater.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Fisher, Jones, Taylor, Runnels, Coke, Mitchell, and Scurry counties. 

The area of the county is 914 square miles.  It is 140 out of 254 in the state.  It ranks 138 out of 254 in population in the state.  It has a density of 16.65 persons per square mile making it 143 out of 254 in the state.  Nolan County has 82.3% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 20 crosses east to west, Taylor County to Mitchell County.  United States Highway 84 comes in joined with Interstate Highway 20 from Taylor County but goes separately northwest into Scurry County.  United States Highway 277 cuts the southeast tip going from Taylor County to Runnels County.  The county is a typical West Texas square shape.  Sweetwater is near the north border with Fisher County.  Sweetwater is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 71.7% of the county population.  This county is in the Sweetwater Micropolitan Statistical Area.