Montague is the county seat of Montague County, Texas, a small community in the Red River country of North Texas near the Oklahoma line. With about 260 residents, it is one of the state's quieter county seats — an unincorporated community and census-designated place whose purpose is centered on county government. The larger towns of Bowie, Nocona, and Saint Jo, all in the same county, outpace it in population and commerce. The county's history reaches back to 1857, when it was established and organized from the surrounding frontier. It was named for Daniel Montague, a surveyor and soldier in the Mexican-American War. The area is also tied to the Chisholm Trail era: Red River Station, a trading post near the river, was established by Jesse Chisholm, the Cherokee merchant whose name the famous cattle trail bears. Montague itself incorporated as a town in 1886 but has long remained small, functioning principally as the seat of county government. Today Montague centers on its county courthouse, which anchors the community's identity and draws daily traffic from across the county for government business. State Highway 59 runs through the area, linking it to Saint Jo to the north and the wider region. The surrounding landscape is rolling ranchland and farmland typical of the North Texas prairie, with cattle operations and agriculture shaping the economy. Public education for the Montague area is provided by the rural school districts of Montague County, with larger campuses in nearby Bowie and Nocona. Residents look to those towns for shopping, healthcare, and services. Montague suits people seeking quiet, rural North Texas living in the heart of ranching country, where county government and agriculture set the pace and the larger towns are a short drive away.