Navarro County Texas

In the spring of 1846 a group led by Edward H. Tarrant, a Texas Ranger, met at the home of Thomas I. Smith. The men at the meeting drew up a petition for a new county to be made out of Robertson County, with a temporary county seat to be located at the home of W. R. Howe. Clinton M. Winkler, a local lawyer, presented the petition to the state legislature in Austin, and it was approved on April 25, 1846.

The new county included all the portion of Robertson County within the east bank of the Brazos River to the northwest corner of Limestone County. It also extended to the Trinity River and north to Dallas County. It was named Navarro County in honor of José Antonio Navarro, a Texas patriot. The county seat remained at Howe's home until his death in 1847. On February 8, 1848, a committee headed by Tarrant voted to set up a permanent county seat at the halfway point between Porter's Bluff and Dresden.

Rev. Hampton McKinney was already living at the site and later constructed the McKinney Inn at the location. On February 25, 1848, Thomas Smith donated 100 acres of land at the McKinney site, and C. C. Taylor was employed to construct a town plot. José Antonio Navarro chose the name Corsicana in honor of the Isle of Corsica, his father's birthplace.