Nacogdoches County's origins go back to 1831, when the territory east of the ridge between the Brazos and Trinity Rivers was designated as the Nacogdoches District of the Department of Bexar of the Mexican state of Coahuila y Texas. It was elevated to the status of the Department of Nacogdoches in 1834. By 1836, The Department of Nacogdoches had been subdivided into six municipalities, the largest of which was Nacogdoches Municipality. The Republic of Texas Congress designated Nacogdoches Municipality as Nacogdoches County in 1836. As the figure above shows, this 28,824 square-mile county was reduced to 12,035 square miles in 1837 with the creation of three more counties. Additional counties were created out of Nacogdoches County over the next 9 years. The final shape and size of Nacogdoches County - now 981 square miles - was set in 1846. Copyright © TexasCounties.net. The boundary overlays are from the Newberry Library.