Jim Wells County was created and organized eight weeks apart

Jim Wells County did not appear all at once. The state created it from part of Nueces County on March 11, 1911. Local government was organized on May 6, just eight weeks later, with Alice as the county seat.

The name belonged to James B. Wells, a South Texas lawyer. A pink-granite Centennial marker near Alice still tells that compact origin story. It is the sort of roadside detail that explains why an older railroad town and a younger county share the same civic center.