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Texas County
Hood County, Texas
Granbury's Victorian courthouse square and Lake Granbury - from Granbury's Courthouse Square (one of the finest Victorian courthouse squares in Texas - the 1891 Hood County Courthouse anchors a remarkably intact 19th-century commercial district that has been transformed into an arts, dining, and boutique shopping destination drawing visitors from the DFW Metroplex) to Lake Granbury (the Brazos River impoundment that transformed Hood County into a premier retirement and resort destination - waterfront homes, marinas, and year-round recreation make Lake Granbury one of north Texas's most desirable lake communities) and the Jesse James and John Wilkes Booth conspiracy theories that bring curious visitors.
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Office: Hood County Emergency Management – coordinates mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery; publishes a Hood County Emergency Preparedness Guide and maintains a Special Needs Assistance Plan database; hoodcounty.texas.gov
Alerts: Hood County switched to the Everbridge Mass Notification System on July 1, 2021 for severe weather, road closures, and other emergency information via phone, email, and text.
Sirens: Hood County outdoor warning sirens sound ONLY for two reasons – a weather warning or an emergency at the Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant near Glen Rose; tested at noon on the first and third Monday of each month (except major holidays). If you hear a siren at any other time, go indoors immediately and monitor local media.
Dispatch: Hood County Emergency Communications Center (ECC) – centralized dispatch (24-position capacity) for the Sheriff’s Office, Granbury PD, Animal Control, Constables, Fire Marshal, EMS providers, and all county/city volunteer fire departments; (817) 579-3330 (Sheriff & Jail)
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: US-377 serves Granbury, the county seat, 36 miles southwest of Fort Worth; Hood County is part of the Dallas-Fort Worth media market and increasingly influenced by the Metroplex’s growth
Transit: No dedicated county-wide public transit system was found in this search – confirm directly with the county or your city
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
No dedicated county building/permitting department was confirmed in this search – for property within Granbury, contact City Hall directly; for unincorporated Hood County, contact the County Judge’s office to confirm current requirements.
Notes: The 1890-91 Hood County Courthouse, designed by W.C. Dodson in Second Empire/Late Victorian style with a lighted clock tower, anchors the 12-acre Hood County Courthouse Historic District (National Register of Historic Places, 1974). Three separate elections were required to make Granbury the county seat over rivals Glen Rose and Fort Spunky; the second of two early courthouses burned in 1875, the same year Somervell County was carved out of Hood County.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Hood County Veterans Services Officer – 116 W Bridge St, Granbury, TX 76048; confirm current contact via hoodcounty.texas.gov.
State VSO: Texas Veterans Commission – tvc.texas.gov
Libraries
LIBRARIES
System: Hood County Library – 222 N. Travis St, Granbury, TX 76048 | (817) 573-3569 | Hours: Monday–Thursday 10:00 AM–7:00 PM, Friday–Saturday 10:00 AM–6:00 PM, closed Sunday; a Friends of the Library group operates a used-book store inside the library, Wednesday–Saturday 10:00 AM–2:00 PM.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Granbury’s historic downtown square, anchored by the restored 1890 Hood County Courthouse, is a genuinely picturesque 19th-century Victorian town square, described by Texas Time Travel as an idyllic, movie-worthy setting. The 1880s Granbury Opera House still stages live music and theater. The Nutt Hotel, built in 1893 by two blind entrepreneur brothers as a limestone mercantile building and converted to a hotel in 1919, still offers historic lodging today. The Hood County Museum occupies an 1880s jail building, and the 1887 railroad depot now houses a genealogical center. Lake Granbury, formed by a 1969 dam across the Brazos River at De Cordova Bend, anchors the region’s boating and waterfront lifestyle. The Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant, built in the 1980s near Glen Rose, brought significant regional economic growth to both Hood and Somervell counties and remains a real, currently monitored facility (see Section 6).
Notes: These are real, extensively documented historic and recreational assets – genuinely one of the more picturesque and well-preserved historic town squares covered in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Hood County Appraisal District (Hood CAD) – Chief Appraiser Jeff Law | 1902 W Pearl St, Granbury, TX 76048 | (817) 573-2471 | hoodcad.net
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Facility: Hood County Animal Control – 1550 Weatherford Hwy, Granbury, TX 76048 | (817) 573-4277 | [email protected] | Hours: Monday–Friday, roughly 9:00 AM–5:00 PM (some sources list 10:00 AM–4:00 PM – confirm current hours directly); established 1992 as an open-intake facility; adoption fees are $85 for unaltered animals (covers sterilization + rabies vaccine) or $25 for already-altered animals (covers rabies vaccine only); free removal of nuisance animals from privately owned traps during business hours – trapping is NOT allowed when forecast temperatures exceed 80°F, to protect animals from heat stress.
Within Granbury: City of Granbury Animal Control – separate city division, Monday–Friday 8:00 AM–5:00 PM, dispatch (817) 579-3307; picked-up animals are held at the county’s Weatherford Highway facility.
Notes: The heat-based trapping restriction is a genuine, practical, currently enforced local rule worth knowing.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
No county-wide landfill or transfer station was confirmed in this search – confirm current household waste disposal options directly with the County Judge’s office or Granbury City Hall.
NOTES: Hood County is the first county in this batch (Hood, Hopkins, Houston, Howard, Hudspeth, Hunt, Hutchinson). Granbury’s historic town square is a genuinely well-preserved, picturesque Texas landmark. The Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant is a real, currently operating facility that shapes the county’s emergency-siren protocol. All contact information above was sourced via web search as of early August 2026 and should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit, deadline-sensitive filing, or emergency-adjacent decision.
About Hood County
Hood County is north-central Texas’s Victorian courthouse and Lake Granbury county – Granbury’s beautifully preserved 1890s commercial district and the Brazos River lake have made it one of the DFW Metroplex’s most beloved weekend and retirement destinations.
Granbury (the county seat, population ~10,000) has two remarkable distinctions – a Victorian courthouse square that rivals any in Texas, and the persistent local legends that both Jesse James and John Wilkes Booth lived out their days in Granbury under assumed names, complete with graves that proponents claim are genuine.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Hood County Appraisal District at 1902 W. Pearl Street, Granbury, TX 76048, phone 817-573-2471. TX property assessed at 100% market value.
Courts & Legal
Hood County District Clerk at 100 E. Pearl Street, Granbury, TX 76048, phone 817-579-3202, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK
1200 West Pearl St, Granbury, TX 76048
(817) 579-3236
DISTRICT CLERK
1200 West Pearl St, Granbury, TX 76048
(817) 579-3213
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Hood County Clerk’s Office, Granbury (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Hood County genealogical society was confirmed in available directories.
Probate & Estate
Losing someone and having to deal with courts and paperwork at the same time is hard. This section won’t make that easier, but it should tell you what to expect, what it costs, and where to go – so at least you’re not walking in blind.
Where to go
County Clerk, Hood County PO Box 339, Granbury, TX 76048 (817) 579-3200 Hood County is in North Central Texas, seated in Granbury.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
Texas probate law is governed by the Texas Estates Code. Probate jurisdiction in Texas is split between statutory probate courts (in larger metro counties) and county courts (in smaller counties like Hood, sometimes assisted by district courts). In Hood County, the County Court handles probate matters.
Small Estate Affidavit (Tex. Est. Code § 205.001) – available ONLY when the decedent died WITHOUT a will (intestate), the estate (excluding homestead and exempt property) does not exceed $75,000, and assets exceed debts. At least 30 days must have passed since death. The affidavit must list every asset and debt, establish the family history showing who the heirs are, and be sworn to by the heirs and two disinterested witnesses; a judge then reviews and approves it under § 205.003.
Independent Administration – used when a will exists (or all heirs agree) and the estate has debts; minimal court supervision after the executor is appointed. This is the most common and efficient path in Texas when available.
Muniment of Title – available when a valid will exists, there are no unsecured debts (other than a mortgage), and there’s no other need for a full administration; transfers title without appointing an executor.
Dependent Administration – required for complex, contested, or disputed estates; involves ongoing court supervision and approval of most actions.
Step 2: filing for administration
The personal representative (or an interested party) files an Application for Probate of Will and Issuance of Letters Testamentary (or Letters of Administration, if intestate) with the Hood County Clerk.
The original will (if one exists), a certified death certificate, and information about heirs and the proposed executor are included with the application.
The court holds a hearing and issues Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration.
The personal representative publishes notice to creditors and gathers, inventories, and appraises the estate’s assets.
The personal representative pays valid debts and expenses.
Remaining assets are distributed to beneficiaries or heirs, and the estate is closed.
What it costs
Filing fees in Texas typically run $250–$400 depending on the county; confirm current Hood County fees directly.
Texas law allows a statutory executor fee of 5% of all sums actually received and paid out in cash, with specific exceptions. The court may also approve reasonable attorney fees paid from the estate.
Small estate affidavits typically cost $600–$1,900 total when factoring in filing and related fees.
Texas does NOT impose a state estate tax or a state inheritance tax. Only the federal estate tax may apply, and only to very large estates.
Probate filings, estate administration, and guardianship matters are handled by the following office(s):
Public Safety & Arrests
Arrest records, inmate search, and law enforcement services are handled by the following office(s):
SHERIFF
1420 South Morgan St, Granbury, TX 76048
(817) 579-3222
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
ELECTIONS
1200 West Pearl St, Granbury, TX 76048
(817) 579-3236
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Health Department
1526 South Morgan St, Granbury, TX 76048
(817) 579-3269
HHSC Office
1517 South Morgan St, Granbury, TX 76048
(817) 573-9541
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Hood County Environmental Health – (817) 579-3288
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