Bexar County Apartments for Rent

When we hear that famous guitar riff precede the lyrics, “When the sun comes up on a sleepy little town, down around San Antone,” it’s hard to believe that when Doobie Brothers lead singer Tom Johnston wrote “China Grove,” he had never actually been there.

China Grove is indeed down around San Antonio, Texas. San Antonio is the county seat of Bexar County. According to the 2010 census, the population of Bexar County is 1,714,773.

The county was one of the twenty-three municipalities of Texas at the time of its independence. The county was settled in 1731, and was the first civil government established in the Spanish province of Texas. Originally is the county was called Villa of San Fernando de Béxar (Bexar is a city in Spain). If that name seems a mouthful, it could have been worse; the county was named after the second son of the Duke of Béxar, Viceroy Balthasar Manuel de Zúñiga y Guzmán Sotomayor y Sarmiento.

At the time it was created, Bexar County encompassed almost the entire western portion of the Republic of Texas, including the disputed areas of western New Mexico northward to Wyoming. After statehood, 128 counties were carved out of its area.

Interestingly, despite being located in the consistently Republican state of Texas, Bexar County is a major bellwether in presidential elections. Since the 1972 presidential election, the winner of Bexar County has gone on to win the general election. In the 2008, Barack Obama carried Bexar County with 52.23 percent of the vote. This was very similar to his national figure of 52.92 percent.