Wise

Formed January 1, 1856 (116^th county)

Wise County (68,632), Decatur (6,546)                

One of the classic courthouses, the stone Romanesque Revival courthouse was built in 1896 and remodeled in 1960.  It is on the square at Walnut and Trinity streets.  Walnut Street is United States Highway 81 passing through the center of the city.  United States Highway 287 bypasses the center to the west.  Three courthouses (1861, 1893, and 1896) have served Wise County since the January 1, 1856 founding, all from Decatur.  The county was cut out of Cooke County as the 116^th county.  J. Riely Gordon designed the latest courthouse.  Wise is named for Henry A. Wise who supported Texas annexation to the United States.  Decatur gets its name from Commodore Stephen Decatur, an American naval hero. 

Wise County government consists of a sheriff, a County Judge, and 4 Commissioners.  One District Court Judge serves Wise and Jack counties and Three County Court Judges serve Wise County.  The county is located in north central Texas just to the northwest of Fort Worth, Texas.  In addition to Fort Worth, Texas being southeast, Wichita Falls, Texas lies to the northwest of the county.  The county center is 6.3 miles West of Decatur.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Cooke, Denton, Tarrant, Parker, Jack, and Montague counties.  Two forks of the Trinity River flow through the county. 

The area of the county is 905 square miles.  It is 134 out of 254 in the state.  It ranks 53 out of 254 in population in the state.  It has a density of 75.8 persons per square mile making it 59 out of 254 in the state.  Wise County has 35.0% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 81 crosses diagonally from Montague County on the north into Tarrant County on the southeast.  United States Highway 287 is joined with United States Highway 81 from Montague County to Tarrant County.  United States Highway 380 goes east to west from Denton County into Jack County.  The county is square with Decatur slightly east of the county center.  Decatur is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 9.5% of the county population.  This county is in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Newark