Before Kaufman, There Was King's Fort

The corner of North Clay and Pyle once held a small neighborhood behind fort walls. William P. King led 40 pioneers from Holly Springs, Mississippi, to the spot in 1840. They built log cabins inside King's Fort, and the settlement that spread around it became known as Kingsboro.

Kaufman County arrived eight years later. Texas created it on February 26, 1848, organized it that August, and named it for David Spangler Kaufman, who had served in the Congress of the Republic of Texas and the U.S. Congress.

King's Fort eventually took the name Kaufman and became the county seat in 1851. The original story is still pinned to two public markers: one at 607 N. Clay Street and one on the courthouse grounds.