Biohazard Cleanup Near Nelson Cleburne, TX

Cleburne is the county seat of Johnson County, located on U.S. Highway 67 about thirty miles south of Fort Worth within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex.

Cleburne began as Camp Henderson, a temporary Civil War outpost from which Johnson County soldiers mustered and departed for war.

The settlement became permanent on March 23, 1867, when it was chosen as Johnson County's third county seat, and it was renamed for Confederate General Patrick R. Cleburne, under whom many local men had served.

Cleburne was formally incorporated in May 1871, making it one of the oldest incorporated towns in the county.

The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad arrived in 1881, and in 1898 the Santa Fe opened major repair shops in Cleburne that became the city's largest employer for the next century.

A strike at the Santa Fe shops in 1922 grew so heated that the governor called in the Texas Rangers to keep order in the city, which by then had about 12,820 residents.

Cleburne counted 31,352 residents in the 2020 census, making it the second-most-populous city in Johnson County, and the Census Bureau estimated its population at 39,942 by July 2025.

Cleburne has about 11,519 households, and roughly 60% of its homes are owner-occupied.

Lake Pat Cleburne, a 1,500-acre reservoir just southwest of town that also bears the general's name, is known as one of the best bass fishing spots in North Texas.

Cleburne State Park, a few miles southwest of the city, was built by Civilian Conservation Corps crews between 1935 and 1940 around a lake of more than 100 acres and is known for its mountain biking trails.