Hays County is located in south-central Texas, on the border between the Edwards Plateau and the southern Black Prairie region. It is 98°00' west longitude and 30°00' north latitude, twenty-three miles southwest of Austin. The county covers an area of 693.5 square miles and is home to a population of over 65,000 people. The county is named after John Coffee Hays, a Texas park ranger and Mexican-American war officer.
Evidence of Paleo-Indians found in the region dates back to 6000 BC. C., while archaeological evidence of native agriculture dates back to 1200 AD. C. The county's population is distributed as 24.50% under the age of 18, 20.50% from 18 to 24, 28.20% from 25 to 44, 19.10% from 45 to 64, and 7.70% from 65 years of age or older.
The median age is 28 years. The town of Hays was founded in the 1970s following a move to incorporate the Country Estates subdivision. It is served by the Hays Consolidated Independent School District and is home to Texas State University. Democratic voters primarily reside along the I-35 Corridor and the communities of San Marcos, Kyle, Buda, Dripping Springs and Wimberley generally vote for Republicans. The main natural grasses are the large blue stalk and indigenous grass; the trees commonly associated with Central Texas, including live oak, cedar, walnut and mesquite, are native to Hays County. The elevation rises from east to west, ranging from 600 to over 1,400 feet.
The county's many streams generally flow in an eastward direction; the main waterways are the Bear, Cypress and Onion streams and the Blanco and San Marcos rivers. The Edwards aquifer is located below the east, where San Marcos Springs, the second largest in Texas, produces about 160 cubic feet per second. The soil ranges from fine limestone to black, waxy, chocolate and gray marl. The average annual rainfall is 33.75 inches. The average maximum temperature in July is 96° F; the average minimum temperature in January is 40° F. Hays County has a 254-day growing season. Hays County's first settlers were a mix of old Texans and immigrants from Georgia and Arkansas.
With the advent of the Civil War, most residents were in favor of secession. Woods's thirty-sixth Texas cavalry regiment was organized at Camp Clark in neighboring Guadalupe County in 1862; Company A consisted primarily of men from Hays County. Soon after the end of the war, Col. Snyder created Hays County's first newspaper - The Pioneer - and George Neill led the first herd of cattle from Hays County to Kansas in 1867. During Reconstruction, a Ku Klux Klan group was formed and in May 1876 a military organization - The San Marcos Greys - was formed. In 1880, the first Hays County railroad was completed to San Marcos from Austin; it was later extended to San Antonio. Although Democrat Jimmy Carter managed to win a majority there in 1976, Republican presidential candidates won Hays County in nearly every election from 1980 to 2004. Not until the establishment of the Gary Job Corps Training Center on the site of the former Gary Air Force Base in 1964 and the growth in enrollment at San Marcos University did Hays County begin a period of steady growth: from 19,934 in 1960 to 27,642 in 1970, 40,594 in 1980 and 65,614 in 1990. Since then, Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC announced that Hays County would move from AA to AA+ for its next limited tax bond issue. Since the turn of the century, Hays County has enjoyed a steady influx of tourists attracted by its caves, springs and spas located in Wimberley and San Marcos.
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