Waller County, named for Edwin Waller, was created from Austin and Grimes counties in 1873 and organized the same year with Hempstead as county seat. The area of the county is 507 square miles; altitude, 250 feet; average annual rainfall, 40.2 inches; and mean annual temperature, 68.9 degrees. The county, situated in Southeast Texas, has a topography varying from a rolling post oak region in the north to prairies in the south. The area is well drained by the Brazos River, which forms the western boundary. Soils range from sandy loams and heavy clays in the upland to rich alluvials in the bottoms and black waxy in the central part. Native timber includes post oak, pine, cottonwood, and elm. Principal industries are ranching, agriculture, and dairying. Cotton, corn, peanuts, grains, watermelons, and rice are grown commercially. Beef cattle, hogs, and sheep are raised for market. Mineral resources include oil, gas, gravel, and brick clay. Transportation is provided by the Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe and the Texas and New Orleans railroads.

The area now included in Waller County was part of Stephen F. Austin's first colony.

Liendo and Bernardo Plantations were part of Jared E. Groce's grant. Called the "Father of Agriculture in Texas, " Groce established a plantation center with a cotton gin, blacksmith shop, and commissary which became the nucleus of the colony. Edwin Waller joined the colony in 1831, coming from Virginia to settle on the east bank of the Brazos.

The area was included in the department of Bexar under the Mexican regime and in 1834 was made part of the Brazos judicial district with San Felipe as the seat of government. The county was the scene of the Runaway Scrape and of Sam Houston's retreat from Gonzales toward San Felipe. The "Twin Sisters'" were placed in front of Bernardo Plantation for several days during the retreat.

In 1849, Leonard Groce established a new plantation at Liendo in the bend of Pond Creek; this plantation was later occupied by Dr. Edmund Montgomery and his wife, Elisabeth Ney.

There was no extensive settlement until after the building of the Houston and Texas Central Railroad in 1857, when Hempstead became the terminus of the road and the shipping center and supply point for the surrounding area. In 1876, a legislative act established Prairie View State Normal and Industrial College for Negroes (later Prairie View University ) with a land grant of 1,434 acres situated near Hempstead . Population of the county was 10,280 in 1940 and 11,961 in 1950.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Frank Ed White. A History of the Territory That Now Constitutes Waller County, Texas,1821-1884 (M.A. Thesis, University of Texas, 1936); H. S. Thrall, Pictorial History of Texas (1879); Texas Almanac (1945).