200px|right|thumb|Hays County Annex Building across from the courthouse in [[San Marcos, Texas|San Marcos]]

thumb|200px|right|Hays County Veterans Monument in San Marcos

Hays County is a county in the central portion of the U.S. state of Texas. It is part of the Austin-Round Rock metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, its official population had reached 241,067. The county seat is San Marcos. Hays, along with Comal and Kendall Counties, was listed in 2017 as one of the nation's fastest-growing counties with a population of at least 10,000. From 2015 to 2016, Hays County, third on the national list, had nearly 10,000 new residents during the year.

The county is named for John Coffee Hays, a Texas Ranger and Mexican–American War officer who fought the Texas- Comanche wars of the 1800s.

History

Hays County has been inhabited for thousands of years. Evidence of Paleo-Indians found in the region goes as far back as 6000 BC. Archeological evidence of native agriculture goes back to 1200 AD. The earliest Europeans to arrive in the area were explorers and missionaries from the Spanish Empire. Father Isidro Félix de Espinosa, Father Antonio de San Buenaventura y Olivares, and Pedro de Aguirre traveled through the area in 1709. A few years later, French-Canadian Louis Juchereau de St. Denis was attacked by Comanches in 1714. More permanent European influence was established in 1755, when the Mission San Francisco Xavier de los Dolores was established among the Apache tribe.

In 1831, Coahuila y Tejas issued a land grant to Juan Martín de Veramendi, to Juan Vicente Campos in 1832, of the Texas Rangers. San Marcos was named as the county seat. The legislature established Blanco from part of Hays in 1858, but incorporated part of Comal into Hays. Risher and Hall Stage Lines controlled 16 of 31 passenger and mail lines in Texas. A teacher's college, Southwest Texas State Normal School, was established in San Marcos in 1899.

Wonder Cave opened to the public in 1900. The current Hays County Courthouse in San Marcos was erected in 1908 in Beaux-Arts style by architect C.H. Page and Bros. The Aquarena Springs tourist site opened in 1928 in San Marcos.

Lyndon Baines Johnson graduated from Southwest Texas State Teachers College in 1930. In 1942, construction of San Marcos Army Air Field began. San Marcos Army Air Field was renamed Gary Air Force Base in 1953 to honor Second Lieutenant Arthur Edward Gary, the first San Marcos resident killed in World War II.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of , of which (0.3%) are covered by water. The county is predominantly in the Edwards Plateau, with the southeast portion in the Texas Blackland Prairies.

Adjacent counties

  • Travis County (northeast)
  • Caldwell County (east)
  • Comal County (southwest)
  • Guadalupe County (south)
  • Blanco County (northwest)

Transportation

Major highways

  • 20px Interstate 35
  • 25px U.S. Highway 290
  • 20px State Highway 21
  • 20px State Highway 80
  • 20px State Highway 123
  • 20px State Highway 142
  • 20px Loop 82

Airport

  • San Marcos Regional Airport - general aviation airport without commercial flights

Education

School districts in Hays County include:

  • Blanco
  • Comal
  • Dripping Springs Independent
  • Hays Consolidated Independent
  • Johnson City
  • San Marcos Consolidated Independent
  • Wimberley Independent

As of 2020, the county has six high schools, 10 middle schools, and 24 elementary schools.

Higher education in Hays County includes one four-year institution, Texas State University, in San Marcos.

Austin Community College is the designated community college for the whole county. It operates three distance-learning centers that offer basic and early college start classes, along with testing centers for online classes.

Demographics