Scurry County

Duane's take

The way the official marker tells it, here's the story of Scurry County. Now, some counties just kind of happen. Others feel like they were meant.

This one started as a piece of Young and Bexar territories, and on August 21, 1876, the Texas legislature carved it out and gave it a name. Though I'll tell you, the county didn't get itself organized until June 28, 1884. Nearly eight years sitting there, waiting to become something official.

That's patience, or maybe just West Texas. The name it carries belongs to General William R. Scurry, born in 1821, died in 1864.

The man served as a member of the last Texas Congress, and when the time came for war, he rose to the rank of general and distinguished himself as an officer in the Confederate Army. The marker calls him distinguished, and it doesn't use that word carelessly. A man who sat in the last Texas Congress and then led men in the field, his name now stretched across miles of rolling plains.

Snyder is the county seat, holding things together out there under that wide sky. Formed from old territories, named for a general, organized on its own good time. Scurry County didn't rush into the world.

It arrived on its terms.

What the marker says

Formed from Young and Bexar territories; created August 21, 1876; organized June 28, 1884; named in honor of General William R. Scurry 1821-1864; member of the last Texas Congress; a distinguished officer in the Confederate Army; Snyder, the county seat. (1936)