Harrison County is a county on the eastern side of U.S. state of Texas bordering with the state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 68,839. The county seat is Marshall. The county was created in 1839 and organized in 1842. It is named for Jonas Harrison, a lawyer and Texas revolutionary.
Developed for cotton plantations by planters from the South, this county had the highest number of enslaved African Americans in Texas before the Civil War. They comprised 59% of the population. From 1870 to 1930, blacks made up 60% of the county's population. In the post-Reconstruction era, whites used lynchings to assert their dominance, in addition to the state's disenfranchisement of Blacks. From 1940 to 1970, in the second wave of the Great Migration, many blacks moved to the West Coast to escape Jim Crow and for work in the expanding defense industry. More whites have moved in since the late 20th century as the county's economy has developed beyond the rural, and now comprise the majority. Harrison County is included in the Longview metropolitan statistical area. It is located in the Ark-La-Tex region.
History
Early history Settlement by immigrants from the United States began during the 1830s in the territory of present-day Harrison County. In 1835, the Mexican authorities granted a dozen land grants to U.S. immigrants. After the Texas Revolution, the Congress of the Texas Republic established Harrison County in 1839, formed from Shelby County. Harrison County was named for Texas revolutionary Jonas Harrison. The county was organized in 1842. The county's area was reduced in 1846, as territory was taken to establish Panola and Upshur Counties. Marshall was founded in 1841 and was designated as the county seat in 1842.
The area was settled predominantly by planters from the Southern United States, who developed this area for cotton plantations and brought enslaved African Americans with them for labor, or purchased them at regional markets. The planters repeated much of their culture and society here. East Texas was the location of most of the cotton plantations in the state, and correspondingly, of most of the enslaved African Americans. Most of the 14 black-majority, plantation counties were located in East Texas. By 1850, landowners in Harrison County held more slaves than in any other county in Texas until the end of the Civil War. The census of 1860 counted 8,746 slaves in Harrison County, 59% of the county's total population. In 1861, the county's voters (who were exclusively white males and mostly upper class) overwhelmingly supported secession from the United States.
Reconstruction era to present Following defeat at the end of the American Civil War, the county was part of an area occupied by Federal troops under Reconstruction. The white minority in the county bitterly resented federal authority and the constitutional amendment granting the franchise to freedmen. A majority in the county, the freedmen elected a biracial county government dominated by Republican Party officeholders. Republican dominance in local offices continued in the county until 1880, but the conservative whites of the Democratic Party regained control of the state government before the official end of Reconstruction. In 1880, the Citizen's Party of Harrison County, amid charges of fraud and coercion, gained control of elected positions in the county government after winning on a technicality, which involved hiding a key ballot box. They retained such control of the county into the 1950s, aided by the state's disenfranchisement of blacks at the turn of the century by a variety of laws, including those to permit white primaries.Williams, Patrick G. "Suffrage Restriction in Post-Reconstruction Texas: Urban Politics and the Specter of the Commune." The Journal of Southern History, vol. 68, no. 1, 2002, pp. 31–64. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3069690. Accessed September 7, 2020. In addition, during the post-Reconstruction era, white terrorist violence was directed at blacks to assert white supremacy. According to records of the Equal Justice Initiative, Harrison County had the third-highest number of lynchings of any county in Texas from 1877 to 1950.
In the 1870s, the county's nonagricultural sector increased when the Texas and Pacific Railway located its headquarters and shops in Marshall. It stimulated other industries and manufacturing in the county and also aided the transportation to market of the important cotton crop. From 1880 to 1930, though, Harrison County remained primarily agricultural and rural. It had a 60% black majority through 1930. During this period, most of the African Americans worked in agriculture as tenant farmers and sharecroppers. Harrison County had a total of 14 lynchings.Lynching in America, Third Edition: Supplement by County , p. 9, Equal Justice Initiative, Mobile, AL, 2017 Most were committed in the early 20th century, particularly in the 1910s, when the county suffered economic hard times. Whites "did not lynch instead of ineffective courts, but instead demonstrated to the black majority that legal protection and rights were inaccessible to blacks".Brandon T. Jett, The Bloody Red River: Lynching and Racial Violence in Northeast Texas, 1890-1930, 2012, M.A. Thesis, p. 63; Texas State University-San Marcos Blacks accused of violence against law enforcement or who were from outside the county were particularly at risk, but the terrorist lynchings put all blacks on notice that whites could take action against them essentially at will.
The Texas Legislature disenfranchised most blacks in 1901 by requiring poll taxes and authorizing white primaries (after various iterations, the latter were overturned by a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1944). This disenfranchisement extended into the late 1960s, until after national civil-rights legislation was passed to enforce these citizens' constitutional civil rights."5.3 Historical Barriers to Voting" , Texas Politics, University of Texas website, 2018
In 1928, oil was discovered in the county. Its exploitation and processing made a significant contribution to the economy. The Great Depression of the 1930s hit the county hard, decimating the agricultural sector. Mobilization for World War II brought an end to the depression. As the defense industry built up in major cities and on the West Coast, from 1940 to 1970, more than 4.5 million blacks migrated from the South, particularly Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, for work and to escape continuing suppression under Jim Crow laws. They moved to the West Coast in the second wave of the Great Migration, attracted to new jobs in the expanding defense industry. The population of the county declined until 1980, when the trend reversed. White migration from other areas has resulted in a majority-white population. In the realignment of parties in the South since the late 20th century, white conservative voters in Texas have left the Democratic Party to become overwhelmingly affiliated with the Republican Party.
Geography According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which (1.7%) are covered by water. The northern and eastern parts of the county are drained to the Red River in Louisiana by Little Cypress Creek, Cypress Bayou, and Caddo Lake. The other third of the county is drained by the Sabine River, which forms a part of its southern boundary.Randolph B. Campbell, "Harrison County", (uploaded 2010/updated 2017), Handbook of Texas Online; accessed May 16, 2018 These waterways were critical to early transportation in the county.
Adjacent counties Marion County (north) Caddo Parish, Louisiana (east) Panola County (south) Rusk County (southwest) Gregg County (west) Upshur County (northwest)
Major highways
National protected area Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge
Communities Cities
Hallsville Longview (mostly in Gregg County) Marshall (county seat and largest municipality) Scottsville Uncertain Waskom
Unincorporated communities
Elysian Fields Gill Harleton Jonesville Karnack Latex Nesbitt Woodlawn
Demographics
Racial and ethnic composition +Harrison County, Texas – Racial and ethnic compositionRace / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)Pop 1980 Pop 1990Pop 2000Pop 2010 Pop 2020% 1980% 1990% 2000% 2010% 2020White alone (NH)34,99239,90743,04442,65442,03966.95%69.42%69.30%64.99%61.07%Black or African American alone (NH)16,25215,96014,86114,30313,44831.10%27.76%23.93%21.79%19.54%Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)931851652772940.18%0.32%0.27%0.42%0.43%Asian alone (NH)641351863314830.12%0.23%0.30%0.50%0.70%Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH)x included in the Asian category in the 1980 Censusx included in the Asian category in the 1990 Census212628xx0.03%0.04%0.04%Other race alone (NH)621828522670.12%0.03%0.05%0.08%0.39%Multiracial (NH)x not an option in the 1980 Censusx not an option in the 1990 Census4897342,441xx0.79%1.12%3.55%Hispanic or Latino (any race)8021,2783,3167,2549,8391.53%2.22%5.34%11.05%14.29%Total52,26557,48362,11065,63168,839 100.00%100.00%100.00%100.00%100.00%
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 68,839. The median age was 38.6 years; 24.7% of residents were under 18 and 17.1% were 65 or older. For every 100 females, there were 95.5 males, and for every 100 females 18 and over, there were 92.5 males age 18 and over.
The racial makeup of the county was 63.8% White, 19.7% Black or African American, 1.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% Asian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 7.4% from some other race, and 7.3% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race comprised 14.3% of the population.
About 45.1% of residents lived in urban areas, while 54.9% lived in rural areas.
Of the 25,648 households in the county, 33.7% had children under 18 living in them, 50.4% were married-couple households, 17.6% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 26.8% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 25.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.6% had someone living alone who was 65or older.
The county had 29,223 housing units, of which 12.2% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 72.6% were owner-occupied and 27.4% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.7% and the rental vacancy rate was 9.7%.
2010 census
The largest ancestry groups in Harrison County at the 2010 United States census were: English (41%), Black or African American (24%), Irish (8%), German (3%), Scotch-Irish (3%), Scottish (2%), Dutch (1%), Italian (1%), French or French Canadian (except Basque) (1%), Mexican (1%), and Polish (1%).
2000 census
In 2000, the 2000 U.S. census reported 62,110 people, 23,087 households, and 16,945 families residing in the county. The population density was . The 26,271 housing units had an average density of .
At the 2000 census, the racial makeup of the county was 71.35% White, 24.03% Black or African American, 0.35% Native American, 0.31% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 2.86% from other races, and 1.06% from two or more races; 5.34% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
American Community Survey (2018)
At the 2018 American Community Survey, the median household income was $51,202, and 14.7% of the population was below the poverty line. The median gross rent in the county was $779 from 2014 to 2018, and the median house monthly owner costs without mortgage were $403. The median with a mortgage was $1,266. Education The following school districts serve Harrison County: - Text list. Elysian Fields ISD (partly in Panola County) Hallsville ISD Harleton ISD Karnack ISD Marshall ISD New Diana ISD (mostly in Upshur County) Ore City ISD (mostly in Upshur County, small portion in Marion County) Waskom ISD