Huntsville is a city in and the county seat of Walker County, Texas, United States. The population was 45,941 as of the 2020 census. It is the center of the Huntsville micropolitan area. Huntsville is in the East Texas Piney Woods on Interstate 45 and home to Sam Houston State University, Texas State Prison, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Huntsville State Park, and HEARTS Veterans Museum of Texas.
Downtown Huntsville in the 1870s.
Downtown Huntsville in the 1870s.
The BOT Complex, the administrative headquarters of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Huntsville's largest employer as of 2005
The Huntsville Unit, a Texas Department of Criminal Justice-operated prison in Huntsville, the home of the state's execution chamber
Walker County is a county located in the east central section of the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 76,400. Its county seat is Huntsville. Initially, Walker County was named for Robert J. Walker, a legislator from Mississippi who introduced into the United States Congress the resolution to annex Texas. Walker later supported the U.S. during its Civil War and earned some enmity for it. In order to keep the county's name, the state renamed it for Samuel H. Walker, a Texas Ranger and soldier in the United States Army.
The Walker County Courthouse in 2022
Ellis Unit, a prison in unincorporated Walker County