Anson, TX

Anson is Jones County's seat in the Abilene metro, a central county crossroads where three U.S. highways meet ranch and farm roads. The city began as Jones City, then took the Anson name in 1882 for Anson Jones, the last president of the Republic of Texas. Anson ISD and the High School Tigers give the city a school-centered daily rhythm, while the courthouse role keeps county business in town. With a 2020 population of 2,294, Anson is small enough for those two roles to overlap.

Anson's signature tradition comes just before Christmas. The Texas Cowboys' Christmas Ball began at the Star Hotel in 1885, grew from Larry Chittenden's cowboy ballad, and later found a home at Pioneer Hall. The modern event runs as a three-night weekend and has a Texas Historical Commission marker. That history gives Anson an unusually specific calendar landmark: at the end of the year, the county seat turns its attention to a dance tradition rooted in the cattle-country world around it. The rest of the year is county government, school, highways, and the practical business of being the middle of Jones County.