Collingsworth County

The county's name is a misspelling: the legislation added a g to James Collinsworth's surname, as Houston's Collingsworth Street also does. Born in Davidson County, Tennessee, he had been U.S. attorney for the Western District of Tennessee before coming to Texas, and he represented Brazoria at the 1836 convention. He became the first chief justice of the Republic's Supreme Court in December 1836 and ran for president against Mirabeau B. Lamar in 1838, but on July 11, 1838, he drowned after falling from a steamboat into Galveston Bay. He is buried in Houston's Founders Memorial Cemetery.

What the plaque says

Collingsworth County Formed from Young and Bexar territories; Created August 21, 1876; Organized November 4, 1890; Named in Honor of James Collinsworth 1806-1838; the first Chief Justice of the Republic of Texas; Signer of the Declaration of Independence at the Battle of San Jacinto; Secretary of State in Burnet's cabinet; Wellington, The County Seat.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Tower Station and U-Drop Inn — 23 mi
  Shamrock's 1936 Conoco station and cafe at the corner of Route 66 and US-83, sketched in the dirt with a nail, named by a schoolboy and saved by the town.
• Devil's Rope and Old Route 66 Museum — 32 mi
  Barbed wire and the Texas road in McLean's old brassiere factory: the fence that closed the open range, from the salesmen who sold it to the Panhandle ranches it divided.
• Phillips 66 Station, McLean — 33 mi
  A 1929 cottage-style Phillips 66 station on First Street in McLean, the town I-40 went around last and whose Route 66 business district stayed much as it was.

More markers nearby

• O'Neil Building — 2.6 mi
• Methodism in Collingsworth — 2.7 mi
• First Methodist Church of Wellington — 2.7 mi
• Collingsworth County Hospital — 3.0 mi