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THE HISTORY OF WHARTON COUNTY 



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The town of Wharton was founded as the seat of Wharton County 

in April 1846
named for two brothers
William Harris and

John Austin Wharton
who were Texas heroes. The town site was 

surveyed by Virgil Stewart and William J.E. Heard
and rich 

farmland attracted many settlers. Land for a courthouse 

named Monterey Square was given from the land grant of 

William Kincheloe
one of Stephen F. Austin's Old 300 

colonists who settled in this area in 1822.The advent of 

railroads and irrigation brought increased settlement to the 

town
which remains a center of agricultural
educational


industrial
and medical services for a large area. 




The Wharton County Courthouse
pictured below
has been 

restored to its 1888 status.







City of Wharton Tour Movie 







 1985 Wharton Country Youth Fair Parade










Prospective landowners first came to the plains of the Colorado River in 1822

having been led there by Stephen F. Austin under contract with the
Mexican Government.  The Mexican Imperial Colonization Law of 1823
granted 177 acres to the heads of families for farming
4428
acres for raising
cattle and 80 extra acres for each slave owned by the settler.






During the time of the Republic of Texas
1836
the area was divided
into three counties: Matagorda
Jackson
and Colorado

each consisting of isolated plantation homes and two
growing towns
Preston and Egypt.  When Texas entered
the United States in 1845
Wharton County was formed of
parts of the three existing counties near the intersection
of mail routes from Matagorda to Columbus and from
Houston to Victoria.  The town and county were named
after William H. Wharton
a lawyer
member of the Convention
of 1832 and Minister to the United States
and his brother
John A. Wharton
also a lawyer
soldier
Secretary of War and
representative from Brazoria County to the First Congress of the
Republic of Texas.  The land where the city of Wharton is now
located was originally part of a league granted to William Kincheloe


and his family in 1824.  Located on the east bank of the Colorado River

in what was known as the "Great Prairie Canebrake" of "Bay Prairie"

this rich flood plain was covered with a dense stand of 20’ tall switch
cane through which flowed Caney Creek
originally a bed of the
Colorado River.  This cane had to be cut down by the first team
to survey the town site.  Kincheloe donated the land for the courthouse
and central square.  Land below the square providing access to the
river was designated as Kincheloe Common.  Under Mexican and
Texan laws
water rights remained with the government.  Rain collected
in cisterns and well water provided the drinking water.






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The town In its earliest days consisted of a
few houses made of logs or imported lumber.
Heart pine shipped from Louisiana was
frequently used.  Brick buildings were
scarce but slaves made bricks for f
oundations and chimneys.  On the riverbank
where the City Hall now stands was Lucinda
Flowers' cabin
built about 1843
and nearby
were cabins for about one hundred slaves.
Farther away on the main road
towards
Matagorda was the two-story brick-and-scantlings
plantation home of Albert Horton
elected
Lieutenant Governor in .


1845
A. A. McWillie's 228 acre plantation was located at the northern edge of town.
The first courthouse of Wharton County
a small frame building
was built in 1848

enclosed within a wire fence in 1851.  In June
1852
the first courthouse was torn
down.  The new courthouse was finished in March of 1852. Built of brick
the 40’
square building was two stories
with the first floor divided by intersecting
north-south and east-west passageways.  In 1857
the wire fence was replaced
by a plank fence of heart pine which stood until the early 1900's

The second official building to be built was the jail in 1854.
It was made of 8” logs on a 3’ brick base
topped by a second
story made of a wooden wall enclosed by a brick wall.