ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS

Ellis County History

by Sam Fenstermacher
The Texas State Legislature created Ellis County on December 20, 1849 with land drawn from Navarro County. Waxahachie was established as the county seat in August 1850 on land donated by Emory W. Rogers, a pioneer settler. The town name comes from an Indian word meaning "cow", and it's also the name of a local creek.

Construction on the Waxahachie Tap Railroad was completed in September 1879. The railroad carried Waxahachie's vast cotton crop to market. In 1881 the Waxahachie Tap was absorbed by the Houston and Texas Central Railway, which extended the rail line all the way to Fort Worth. In the following years more rail lines were built to match the county's ever expanding agricultural output.

Like so many other rural counties in this part of the state of Texas, Ellis County had a period of great growth from about 1880 to 1930. By the 1920's Waxahachie had a population of 7,958 and 200 businesses including three banks, three cottonseed oil mills, five cotton gins, and two daily and two weekly newspapers. Profits from the cultivation and processing of cotton drove this economic boom. Unfortunately, when cotton prices dropped in the 1930's so did the local economy.
© Sam Fenstermacher

(1936 Centennial - Highway Marker:)

ELLIS COUNTY
Created December 20, 1849 from Navarro County
Organized August 5, 1850
Named in honor of Richard Ellis, 1781-1846
a Virginian by birth and education
Jurist and statesman of Alabama 1813-1825
Moved to Texas in 1825
President of the Constitutional Convention, March, 1836
Member, Congress of the Republic of Texas
Waxahachie the county seat

Ellis County Town List

Ellis County Vintage Maps