Clarksville Was One of the Earliest Towns in the Republic of Texas

James Clark settled what became Clarksville in 1833, before Texas was a republic. Red River County was formally created on December 14, 1837, by an act signed by President Sam Houston. The county takes its name from the Red River, which forms the northern boundary with Oklahoma.

From the late 1830s until the Civil War, Clarksville was the most important trading center in northwest Texas. The town had a college and a newspaper — the Northern Standard — by the early 1840s. A limestone courthouse in Renaissance Revival style, designed by architect W. H. Wilson, was completed in 1884 and still stands. Cotton was the main cash crop into the 1900s. The county's population peaked around 36,000 in 1920 and has declined steadily since. The Handbook of Texas at the Texas State Historical Association has a full county history.