24/7 Trauma and Biohazard Cleanup in Henrietta, TX

Henrietta is the county seat of Clay County and one of the oldest settled towns in north central Texas, sitting at the crossroads of U.S. Highways 287 and 82 and State Highway 148.

When Clay County was separated from Cooke County on December 24, 1857, the act required the county seat to be named Henrietta — but the real origin of the name remains a mystery, with several theories and no confirmed explanation.

Henrietta was the only town of any consequence in Clay County in 1860, when the whole county had just 109 residents and the town itself had ten houses and a general store.

Henrietta received a post office in 1862, but the town was largely abandoned during the Civil War as settlers retreated east, and permanent settlers only began returning in the early 1870s.

From 1875 to 1879, Henrietta served as the judicial center of the Texas Panhandle.

Henrietta incorporated in 1881, and the arrival of the Fort Worth and Denver Railway in 1882 cemented its position as county seat after most residents of rival Cambridge moved there for the railroad.

The Clay County courthouse in Henrietta, built in 1884 of red brick and sandstone, is still in use today.

By 1890 Henrietta had grown to 2,100 people and boasted a 400-seat opera house, five churches, two banks, a cigar manufacturer, a jail, a school, and two newspapers.

Henrietta even had its own college for a brief moment in history — Henrietta Normal College operated from 1893 to 1895.

Henrietta had a population of 3,111 at the 2020 census, making it the largest city in Clay County, and it is part of the Wichita Falls metropolitan statistical area.