Formed August 21, 1876 (217th county)
Roberts County (828), Miami (541)
The Texas Renaissance courthouse of Roberts County was built in 1913 at the corner of United States Highway 60 and Kiowa Street. The county was organized on August 21, 1876 with Oran (later named Parnell) as the county seat. Miami assumed that role in 1913. Elmer George Withers designed this stately yellow and brown brick courthouse. Roberts County was part of Bexar County and the 217th county. Roberts is named for John S. Roberts, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence and Oran M. Roberts, a Texas Governor. Miami gets its name from the Algonquin Native American word for “sweetheart.”
Roberts County government consists of a sheriff, a County Judge, and 4 Commissioners. Three District Court Judge serves Roberts, Gray, Hemphill, Lipscomb, and Wheeler counties and One County Court Judge serves Roberts County. The county is the northwest panhandle. Amarillo, Texas is to the southwest of this sparsely populated county. The county center is 17.1 miles Northwest of Miami. The county is surrounded clockwise by Ochiltree, Lipscomb, Hemphill, Wheeler, Gray, Carson, Hutchinson, and Hansford counties.
The area of the county is 924 square miles. It is 104 out of 254 in the state. It ranks 247 out of 254 in population in the state. It has a density of 0.9 persons per square mile making it 243 out of 254 in the state. Roberts County has 65.3% of its population in its incorporated areas. United States Highway 60 cuts the southeast corner of the county from Hemphill County, east, into Gray County, south. The county is square with the Canadian River dominating the northern part of the county. Miami is the only community in the county and is in the extreme southeast corner. Miami is the county seat and, as the only incorporated city, it is the largest city. It is 65.3% of the county population. The county seat is pronounced MIE-AM-EE. This county is in the Pampa Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Miami
