Welcome

Postcard of the courthouse in Canadian about 50 years ago.

Hemphill County is located in the northern panhandle of Texas and Canadian, the county seat, is almost centered in the northwest quadrant of the county at the confluence of the Canadian River (for which it's named) and Red Deer Creek. We also have the Washita River flowing across the county about halfway between the Canadian and Wheeler County in the south.

Hemphill was created in 1876 from land taken from Bexar and Young counties but not organized until 1887. Canadian was designated as the county seat and is the only incorporated area in the county. The county was named for judge and Confederate congressman, John Hemphill.

In 2020, the census showed 3382 persons residing in Hemphill County and the highest population ever was in 1980 with 5304 people.

We need your help to grow this site. If you have any information to contribute, please contact me. We need a list of surnames of people who lived here, surveys of cemeteries and indices of vital records. Church records, diaries and other historical items are welcome.

Point of Interest: The intersection shown in the last scene of the movie Castaway, with Tom Hanks, is located in the southwest corner of Hemphill County.

Resources

On-Site

Biographies Cemeteries Census Records Churches History Local Information Lookups Military Records Photographs Surnames Surrounding Counties Vital Records

Off-Site

Hemphill Archives Other TXGenWeb Counties Portal to Texas History Query Board

Communities, past and present

Canadian
Cataline
Clear Creek
Colahan
Dreyfoos
Gageby
Gem
Glazier
Hogtown
Mendota
Midway
Zybach