Cass County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 28,454. The county seat is Linden. The county was named for Lewis Cass, a United States Senator representing Michigan who favored the U.S. annexation of Texas in the mid-19th century.
History
Cass County was formed in 1846 from sections of Bowie County and houses some outskirts of Texarkana. It was named for Lewis Cass, a U.S. Senator from Michigan who had favored the annexation of Texas to the United States and became the first presidential candidate to win the state.
The county was originally developed by planters for cotton plantations. By 1860, the majority of the population were enslaved African Americans. After the war, freedmen worked largely as tenant farmers and sharecroppers into the early 20th century. Black residents faced violence and discrimination in Cass County, which was the location of nine lynchings, the fifth-highest total among Texas' 254 counties.
From 1861 to 1871, this county was known as Davis County, after Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederate States of America, as opposed to Jeff Davis County in West Texas.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (2.4%) is water.
Cass County, Texas is one of only three counties in Texas to border two other U.S. states (the others are Bowie and Dallam counties). Cass County forms part of the tripoint of Texas-Arkansas-Louisiana.
Adjacent counties and parish
- Bowie County (north)
- Miller County, Arkansas (northeast)
- Caddo Parish, Louisiana (southeast)
- Marion County (south)
- Morris County (west)
Major highways
- 20px U.S. Highway 59
- 23px Interstate 369 is currently under construction and will follow the current route of U.S. 59 in most places.
- 20px State Highway 8
- 20px State Highway 11
- 20px State Highway 77
- 23px State Highway 155
- 23px Farm to Market Road 248
- 23px Farm to Market Road 250
State protected area
- Atlanta State Park
Communities
Cities
- Atlanta
- Hughes Springs (small part in Morris County)
- Linden (county seat)
- Queen City
Towns
- Avinger
- Bloomburg
- Domino
- Douglassville
- Marietta
Census-designated places
- Bivins
- McLeod
Unincorporated communities
- Almira
- Antioch
- Bryans Mill
- Carterville
- Cass
- Cornett
- Cusseta
- Dalton
- Fairview
- Gum Springs
- Huffins
- Kildare
- Lanark
- Lanier
- New Colony
- Nickleberry
- O'Farrell
- Patman
- Pruitt
- Red Hill
- Roach
- Smyrna
- Springdale
- Three States (extends into Arkansas and Louisiana)