Colorado County: One of Texas's Original Counties

Columbus was settled by members of Stephen F. Austin's colony around 1821–1823. It was called Beeson's Ferry at first, renamed Columbus in 1835. The county was established in 1836 and organized in 1837. Sam Houston ordered the town burned during the Runaway Scrape in 1836, when settlers fled advancing Mexican forces.

The county grew on cotton and cattle through the 1800s. German immigrants arrived in large numbers starting in the 1830s; by 1880, 1,328 Germans lived in the county, making them a prominent part of the population. Rice farming took over as the leading crop in the early 20th century. Oil production began commercially in 1932. The Colorado River, which gives the county its name, cuts through the county from northwest to southeast.