Texas, Shelby County
Where Center's records are kept. Court and property records for Center sit with Shelby County, and birth and death certificates come from the State of Texas.
Start here
As a small town, Center relies on Shelby County and the State of Texas for its public records. The cards below are the Texas state offices, and the Shelby County offices are on our Shelby County page. Use the category buttons to narrow the list.
Police & jail
Find the location and release information of individuals incarcerated with the Texas Dept. of Criminal Justice.
Open official site Texas Inmates and Offender InformationPolice & jail
Search for felony or misdemeanor criminal charges by requesting records from the Texas state repository.
Open official site Texas Criminal History Background CheckPolice & jail
The FBI Dallas Field Office, one of four in Texas, takes tips on federal crimes and lists wanted fugitives. A personal FBI record check, the Identity History Summary, is ordered from FBI CJIS at edo.cjis.gov.
Open official site Federal Bureau of Investigation Dallas OfficePolice & jail
Department of Public Safety page on the sex offender registration program, linking the public sex offender registry search, Chapter 62 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and common questions.
Open official site Texas Sex Offender Registration ProgramPolice & jail
Current posting of fugitives and absconders from the Texas Dept. of Public Safety.
Open official site Texas Most WantedPolice & jail
The Texas DPS Highway Patrol patrols state roadways, enforces commercial vehicle rules and responds to crashes and disasters. The page describes its services, travel tips and school bus safety programs.
Open official site Texas Highway PatrolPolice & jail
Renew a Texas driver license or ID card, find a driver license office, apply for a handgun license, and request crime records such as criminal history checks.
Open official site Texas Department of Public SafetyCity records
The City of Center publishes its council meetings, its notices and the contacts for its office.
Open official site City of CenterCity records
The Center council publishes its members, its meeting dates and the decisions it records for the municipality.
Open official site City of Center councilState records
Buy a Texas hunting or fishing license, title and register a boat, read hunting and fishing regulations, and find state parks and make park reservations.
Open official site Texas Parks and Wildlife DepartmentState records
Manage a child support case, apply for crime victims' compensation, file a consumer complaint, and learn how members of the public request records under the Texas Public Information Act.
Open official site Attorney General of TexasState records
The Texas Rangers division of DPS handles major violent crime, public corruption, cold case and officer involved shooting investigations. The page explains its units, the Unsolved Crimes Investigation Program and contacts.
Open official site Texas RangersState records
Find active and inactive corporations by name from the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.
Open official site Texas Business & Corporation SearchPolice & jail
Information from the Texas Dept. of Criminal Justice about TX death row inmates.
Open official site Texas Death RowEverything else, organized
Local record guide
What we hold on Center, and who keeps its records.
Local profile
Center, a place of 5,221 people, is the seat of Shelby County, so most county offices are in Center itself. The town keeps its own council and business records. See our Shelby County page for every county office.
Abandoned mine records
What the records show here, and the office that holds the mine maps.
Center sits over the Texas Region and the coal there is lignite, worked mostly at the surface. The USGS coal fields map is drawn at a small scale, so it shows the ground, not a parcel.
Nothing at all is on record inside the town limits: no mine, no shaft, no adit and no pit. That is what the files say, and it is not a clearance. Those files record a working only where one was catalogued or drawn on a survey sheet, and on coal ground the sheets are thin: the maps that show the rooms and the pillars are held by Railroad Commission of Texas, Abandoned Mine Land data map and that office is where to ask for them.
Texas abandoned mine maps ranks every county and town in the state by the workings recorded inside it, names the office that holds the mine maps, and says what to do if the ground moves.
Disclaimer: The mine information here is for general information only. Old mine records can be incomplete, outdated or wrong, and finding nothing here does not mean there is nothing there. Check with the mine map office named here before you rely on it, and have a qualified engineer look at any ground you are worried about. PublicRecordCenter.com assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors, omissions, or consequences arising from the use of this information.
Labor Department file
The U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division closed 23 investigations with a Center address since fiscal 2005 and recorded $286,044 in back wages agreed for 177 workers. Snapshot of April 22, 2026; a case here is a finding by the Division, not a court judgment, and the city is the one written on the employer's record.
| Employer | Cases | Back wages | Workers |
|---|---|---|---|
| JML Management, Inc. | 1 | $141,141 | 21 |
| J&J Raymond Construction, LLC | 1 | $123,667 | 15 |
| Pineywoods Seafood LLC | 2 | $6,418 | 20 |
| THJ Brothers, LLC | 1 | $4,186 | 25 |
| DCS Sanitation Management, Inc. | 1 | $3,697 | 54 |
| Krishna Center, INC | 1 | $3,163 | 16 |
| Baba's Associates, LLC | 1 | $2,671 | 2 |
| D & W Regeneration, Inc. | 1 | $407 | 3 |
| Bronco Boring LLC | 2 | $395 | 2 |
| Goodwin Roof Service, LLC | 1 | $301 | 1 |
| Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. | 8 | $0 | 0 |
| G.W. Strong | 1 | $0 | 6 |
| Hawkeye Hunting Club, Inc. | 1 | $0 | 0 |
| JC Lewis Construcion LLC | 1 | $0 | 0 |
| City of Center | 1 | $0 | 0 |
| Demecio Chavez | 1 | $0 | 0 |
| Dragon Products, INC | 1 | $0 | 0 |
| Watts Transportation, Inc. | 1 | $0 | 0 |
| Summit LTC Center, LLC | 1 | $0 | 0 |
Every employer whose address on the record is in Center, by back wages agreed; 6 employers have a page of their own and open from the table, the rest show their whole record in this row. The Texas wage theft records page ranks the whole state.
Straight answers
Open only the answer you need.
Voter registration in Texas is run by the Texas Secretary of State, Elections Division, and the county voter registrar keeps the roll for Center. Texas has no online voter registration: the form goes in by mail or in person at a registration office. Your county voter registrar must receive your application at least 30 days before an election; you can fill out the application online, but you must print, sign and mail it to the registrar.
Certified birth and death certificates for events in Texas come from the Texas Department of State Health Services, Vital Statistics. The fee is $22.00 for a certified birth certificate, long or short form. You can get vital records in the county, city or district where the event occurred, and some local offices also provide birth records from anywhere in the state.
Deeds for property in Center are recorded by the county clerk, the county appraisal district sets the assessed value, and the county tax assessor-collector sends the tax bill. Our Shelby County page lists those offices.
Incident and crash reports for Center come from the Texas Department of Public Safety, the office linked above. Ask its records staff for a copy and give the date, the location and the report or case number if you have it.
Businesses that operate in Center register with the Texas Secretary of State, Business and Public Filings, which runs the state business entity search. The State of Texas does not require a general business license; the Governor's Business Permit Office says local permit requirements must also be met.
Texas criminal history checks are run by the Texas Department of Public Safety, Crime Records. The fee is $10.00 for a name based check done offline through DPS; $15.00 for a fingerprint based check, plus $10 for fingerprinting at a FAST location. Run an online name based search of deferred adjudication and conviction records through the DPS Criminal History Conviction Name Search, or have fingerprints taken by appointment at a DPS FAST location.
Same county
Other places in Shelby County. A town page lists that town's own offices where it has them; Shelby County records are on the county page.