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“The county covers 1,068 square miles of level and rolling blacklands and has some woodland areas of oak, hickory and pine, but is mainly open and gently rolling prairies.”

“During the settlement of Texas the predominant Indian tribes in Navarro County area were the Iones, Kickapoos, and Comanches.”

“The new county (Navarro) included all the portion of Robertson County within the east bank of the Brazos River to the northwest corner of Limestone County. It also extended to the Trinity River and north to Dallas County. It was named Navarro County in honor of José Antonio Navarro, a Texas patriot.”

”José Antonio Navarro chose the name Corsicana in honor of the Isle of Corsica, his father’s birthplace.”

”Over the next twenty years the original Navarro County was divided into the following counties: Limestone in 1846, Ellis in 1847, Tarrant in 1847, part of McLennan in 1850, Hill in 1853, Johnson in 1854, Parker in 1855, Palo Pinto in 1856, and Hood in 1866.”

”Oil was discovered in the county in 1894. In 1895 the first railroad tank car of oil was shipped from Corsicana by the Corsicana Petroleum Oil Company. By 1898 Corsicana had a refinery that produced 500 barrels a day. Petroleum production would continue to contribute to the area’s economy for over a hundred years, the longest continuous oil production of any Texas county.”

“In the early twenty-first century a diverse array of manufacturing concerns, agribusinesses, and oilfield operations was the central element of the area’s economy. In 2002 the county had 1,864 farms and ranches covering 537,104 acres, 49 percent of which were devoted to pasture, 42 percent to crops, and 6 percent to woodlands.”

Julie G. Miller, “NAVARRO COUNTY,” Handbook of Texas Online

I came to Corsicana on January 3, 2011 and revisited the Navarro County Courthouse on October 11, 2013

NAVARRO COUNTY COURTHOUSE

Architect: J.E. Flanders

Year: 1905

Number for County: Fifth

Style: Beaux-Arts

An alternate entrance aside from the main one is on the north-western side.

Inside

Navarro County Memorial to Volunteer Firefighters

Here you see the statue of José Antonio Navarro; a Texas patriot and the man the county is named for, along with the main entrance to the courthouse which faces south