Nolan County, Texas
Nolan County is a county located in the west central region of the U. S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, its population was 15,216, its county seat is Sweetwater. The county was created in 1876 and organized in 1881, it is named for one of the first American traders to visit Texas. Nolan County comprises TX Micropolitan Statistical Area. Susan King has been since 2007 the Republican state representative from Nolan as well as Jones and Taylor Counties. From 1921 to 1925, the Democrat Richard M. Chitwood of Sweetwater represented Nolan County in the state House; as chairman of the House Education Committee, he worked in 1923 to establish what became Texas Tech University in Lubbock. He had first tried to obtain the institution for Sweetwater as the central location of West Texas. After the institution was established, he resigned from the House to move to Lubbock to become the first Texas Tech business manager, he served in that capacity for just 15 months. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 914 square miles, of which 912 square miles are land and 2.0 square miles are covered by water.
Nolan County is in the Cross Timbers region for wildlife management. Geologically Nolan County occupies part of the Rolling Plains in the North and South, separated by an isolated part of the Edwards Plateau in much of the center; the uplifted plateau, rising up to 500 feet above the surrounding plains, gives Nolan county an advantage on production of wind energy. Plateau areas of the Cretaceous Period and much of the county are underlain by petroleum deposits from the Pennsylvanian Period. Interstate 20 U. S. Highway 84 State Highway 70 State Highway 153 Fisher County Taylor County Runnels County Coke County Mitchell County As of the census of 2000, 15,802 people, 6,170 households, 4,288 families resided in the county; the population density was 17 people per square mile. The 7,112 housing units averaged 8 per square mile; the racial makeup of the county was 78.45% White, 4.68% Black or African American, 0.49% Native American, 0.24% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 14.02% from other races, 2.07% from two or more races.
About 28.04% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race. Of the 6,170 households, 32.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.00% were married couples living together, 12.60% had a female householder with no husband present, 30.50% were not families. Around 27.10% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.40% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 3.01. In the county, the population was distributed as 27.10% under the age of 18, 8.50% from 18 to 24, 25.40% from 25 to 44, 22.60% from 45 to 64, 16.40% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.70 males. The median income for a household in the county was $26,209, for a family was $32,004. Males had a median income of $28,674 versus $19,335 for females; the per capita income for the county was $14,077. About 18.30% of families and 21.70% of the population were below the poverty line, including 29.50% of those under age 18 and 18.50% of those age 65 or over.
Nolan County has established itself as a center for wind power generation. As of July 2008, Nolan County generated more wind energy than the entire state of California, would have ranked sixth in the world for wind power generation if it were counted as its own country. A branch of Texas State Technical College operates near Sweetwater offering the first community college program for wind energy in Texas beginning in 2007. Wind energy investments in the county of about $3 billion US dollars since 1999 have resulted in about 1,330 direct wind-related jobs which were created in Nolan County alone, with $18,000,000 in annual landowner royalties and over $12,000,000 in annual local school taxes, about $1.7 million more in county property taxes. Nolan county is a hub of the Public Utility Commission’s $5 Billion CREZ wind energy transmission line expansion project in Texas. Blackwell Roscoe Sweetwater Maryneal Nolan Bitter Creek Wastella Decker List of museums in West Texas National Register of Historic Places listings in Nolan County, Texas Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks in Nolan County Nolan County Official Site Nolan County from the Handbook of Texas Online Nolan County Profile from the Texas Association of Counties The National WASP WWII Museum
Concho County, Texas
Concho County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U. S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, the population was 4,087, its county seat is Paint Rock. The county was founded in 1858 and organized in 1879, it is named for the Concho River. Through the 1800s, Paleo-Indians lived in the county and left behind archaeological remains of a burned-rock midden. Athabascan-speaking Indians associated with the prehorse Plains culture live in this part of Texas. Native inhabitants include Jumano, Tonkawa and Lipan Apache. In 1847, John O. Meusebach sent surveyors into the area. In 1849, Robert Simpson Neighbors lead a small expedition through the area; the Texas Legislature formed Concho County from Bexar County in 1858. In 1874, Ranald S. Mackenzie led a campaign to drive out remaining native peoples and established the Mackenzie Trail; the county seat was formally named Paint Rock after the nearby pictographs. The Eden community was established in 1882. In 1909, the community of Lowake community was established.
Railroads came to the county first in 1910, with the Concho, San Saba and Llano Valley railroad being completed to Paint Rock. The Fort Worth and Rio Grande Railway is completed across the southeastern corner of the county in 1911, the Gulf and Santa Fe railroad finished a line to Eden in 1912. By 1930, the area had 449 owner-operated farms and 682 tenant-operated farms, of whom 619 were sharecroppers. In 1940, Concho County became part of a soil-conservation district. In 1985, the Texas Water Commission granted permission to impound 554,000 acre feet of water on the Colorado River at Stacy, to create the O. H. Ivie Reservoir; as of 1988, Concho County was the leading sheep-producing county in Texas. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 994 square miles, of which 984 square miles is land and 9.9 square miles is water. U. S. Highway 83 U. S. Highway 87 State Highway 153 State Highway 206 Runnels County Coleman County McCulloch County Menard County Tom Green County As of the census of 2000, 3,966 people, 1,058 households, 757 families resided in the county.
The population density was 4 people per square mile. There were 1,488 housing units at an average density of 2 per square mile; the racial makeup of the county was 88.20% White, 0.98% Black or African American, 0.48% Native American, 0.08% Asian, 0.10% Pacific Islander, 8.93% from other races, 1.24% from two or more races. About 41.33 % of the population were Latinos of any race. Of the 1,058 households, 29.80% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.40% were married couples living together, 9.70% had a female householder with no husband present, 28.40% were not families. About 26.60% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.20% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.45 and the average family size was 2.97. In the county, the population was distributed as 16.10% under the age of 18, 10.40% from 18 to 24, 38.20% from 25 to 44, 21.50% from 45 to 64, 13.80% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 181.30 males.
For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 209.90 males. The median income for a household in the county was $31,313, for a family was $36,894. Males had a median income of $20,750 versus $21,458 for females; the per capita income for the county was $15,727. About 7.50% of families and 11.90% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.80% of those under age 18 and 14.20% of those age 65 or over. Concho County has the highest gender ratio in the United States with 232 men to every 100 women. Eden Paint Rock Eola Lowake Millersview The 1968 movie Journey to Shiloh features a group known as the "Concho County Comanches," and mentions neighboring Menard County. National Register of Historic Places listings in Concho County, Texas Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks in Concho County Media related to Concho County, Texas at Wikimedia Commons Concho County government’s website Concho County in Handbook of Texas Online at the University of Texas
Taylor County, Texas
Taylor County is a county located in the U. S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, its population was 131,506, its county seat is Abilene. The county was created in 1858 and organized in 1878, it is named for Edward Taylor, George Taylor, James Taylor, three brothers who died at the Battle of the Alamo. Taylor County is included in the Abilene, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area, is considered part of West Texas. Among first inhabitants were the Penteka. 1849 Capt. Randolph Marcy, U. S. Army engineer passes through scouting out West Texas to California routes. 1858 The Texas legislature establishes Taylor County from Travis counties. The county is named for Alamo defenders Edward and George Taylor. Butterfield Overland Mail establishes the Mountain Pass Station at Merkel, in continual use until 1861. 1872 First cattlemen venture into present Taylor County. 1878 Taylor County is organized. Buffalo Gap is named county seat. 1880 Texas & Pacific Railroad signs an agreement to run tracks through the future city of Abilene.
1881 Abilene is named after Abilene, Kansas. 1883 Abilene becomes the county seat. Wagon train of ten Baptist families arrives in the county. 1890 Abilene Board of Trade is organized. There are 587 ranches in the county. 1891 Hardin-Simmons University is established as Abilene Baptist College by the Sweetwater Baptist Association. 1897 Lytle Lake is created. 1904 State Epileptic Colony opens in Abilene. 1906 Abilene Christian University opens its doors as Childers Classical Institute. 1924 Hendricks Medical Center opens in Abilene as West Texas Baptist Sanitarium. West Texas Historical Association is chartered in Abilene. 1926 The first senior class of McMurry University graduates. 1929 Oil is discovered in the county. 1933 Abilene donates land for use by the Civilian Conservation Corps. 1942 Dyess Air Force Base is established as Abilene AFB. It is named in honor of Texas native and Bataan Death March survivor Lieutenant Colonel William Dyess. 1950 The Abilene Philharmonic Orchestra is created, with Jay Dietzer as the first conductor.
1956 Buffalo Gap Historic Village opens. 1998 The Ranch Horse Association of America is formed in Abilene. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 919 square miles, of which 916 square miles are land and 3.8 square miles are water. Interstate 20 Interstate 20 Business U. S. Highway 83 U. S. Highway 84 U. S. Highway 277 State Highway 36 State Highway 153 State Highway 351 Loop 322 Jones County Shackelford County Callahan County Coleman County Runnels County Nolan County Mitchell County As of the census of 2000, 126,555 people, 47,274 households, 32,524 families resided in the county; the population density was 138 people per square mile. The 52,056 housing units averaged 57 per square mile; the racial makeup of the county was 80.61% White, 6.73% Black or African American, 0.58% Native American, 1.25% Asia], 0.07% Pacific Islander, 8.35% from other races, 2.42% from two or more races. About 17.64% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race. Of the 47,274 households, 34.70% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.80% were married couples living together, 11.50% had a female householder with no husband present, 31.20% were not families.
About 25.70% of all households were made up of individuals, 9.70% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.54 and the average family size was 3.07. In the county, the population was distributed as 26.60% under the age of 18, 13.80% from 18 to 24, 27.80% from 25 to 44, 19.30% from 45 to 64, 12.40% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.10 males. The median income for a household in the county was $34,035, for a family was $40,859. Males had a median income of $28,964 versus $21,021 for females; the per capita income for the county was $17,176. About 10.40% of families and 14.50% of the population were below the poverty line, including 17.60% of those under age 18 and 9.20% of those age 65 or over. Abilene Tuscola Tye Buffalo Gap Impact Lawn Merkel Trent Potosi Caps Ovalo View Wylie Dyess AFB Abilene State Park, recreational facility Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center, the world's largest wind farm Gary D. McCaleb, former mayor of Abilene List of museums in West Texas National Register of Historic Places listings in Taylor County, Texas Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks in Taylor County Charles Perry, member of the Texas Senate from Lubbock, was born in Taylor County in 1962.
Taylor County Official Site Central Appraisal District of Taylor County Taylor County from the Handbook of Texas Online Taylor at Curlie Zachry, Juanita Daniel A History of Rural Taylor County Nortex Press, 1980. ISBN 089015239X
Texas
Texas is the second largest state in the United States by both area and population. Geographically located in the South Central region of the country, Texas shares borders with the U. S. states of Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the west, the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas to the southwest, while the Gulf of Mexico is to the southeast. Houston is the most populous city in Texas and the fourth largest in the U. S. while San Antonio is the second-most populous in the state and seventh largest in the U. S. Dallas–Fort Worth and Greater Houston are the fourth and fifth largest metropolitan statistical areas in the country, respectively. Other major cities include Austin, the second-most populous state capital in the U. S. and El Paso. Texas is nicknamed "The Lone Star State" to signify its former status as an independent republic, as a reminder of the state's struggle for independence from Mexico; the "Lone Star" can be found on the Texan state seal.
The origin of Texas's name is from the word taysha. Due to its size and geologic features such as the Balcones Fault, Texas contains diverse landscapes common to both the U. S. Southern and Southwestern regions. Although Texas is popularly associated with the U. S. southwestern deserts, less than 10% of Texas's land area is desert. Most of the population centers are in areas of former prairies, grasslands and the coastline. Traveling from east to west, one can observe terrain that ranges from coastal swamps and piney woods, to rolling plains and rugged hills, the desert and mountains of the Big Bend; the term "six flags over Texas" refers to several nations. Spain was the first European country to claim the area of Texas. France held a short-lived colony. Mexico controlled the territory until 1836 when Texas won its independence, becoming an independent Republic. In 1845, Texas joined the union as the 28th state; the state's annexation set off a chain of events that led to the Mexican–American War in 1846.
A slave state before the American Civil War, Texas declared its secession from the U. S. in early 1861, joined the Confederate States of America on March 2nd of the same year. After the Civil War and the restoration of its representation in the federal government, Texas entered a long period of economic stagnation. Four major industries shaped the Texas economy prior to World War II: cattle and bison, cotton and oil. Before and after the U. S. Civil War the cattle industry, which Texas came to dominate, was a major economic driver for the state, thus creating the traditional image of the Texas cowboy. In the 19th century cotton and lumber grew to be major industries as the cattle industry became less lucrative, it was though, the discovery of major petroleum deposits that initiated an economic boom which became the driving force behind the economy for much of the 20th century. With strong investments in universities, Texas developed a diversified economy and high tech industry in the mid-20th century.
As of 2015, it is second on the list of the most Fortune 500 companies with 54. With a growing base of industry, the state leads in many industries, including agriculture, energy and electronics, biomedical sciences. Texas has led the U. S. in state export revenue since 2002, has the second-highest gross state product. If Texas were a sovereign state, it would be the 10th largest economy in the world; the name Texas, based on the Caddo word táyshaʼ "friend", was applied, in the spelling Tejas or Texas, by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves the Hasinai Confederacy, the final -s representing the Spanish plural. The Mission San Francisco de los Tejas was completed near the Hasinai village of Nabedaches in May 1690, in what is now Houston County, East Texas. During Spanish colonial rule, in the 18th century, the area was known as Nuevo Reino de Filipinas "New Kingdom of the Philippines", or as provincia de los Tejas "province of the Tejas" also provincia de Texas, "province of Texas", it was incorporated as provincia de Texas into the Mexican Empire in 1821, declared a republic in 1836.
The Royal Spanish Academy recognizes both spellings and Texas, as Spanish-language forms of the name of the U. S. State of Texas; the English pronunciation with /ks/ is unetymological, based in the value of the letter x in historical Spanish orthography. Alternative etymologies of the name advanced in the late 19th century connected the Spanish teja "rooftile", the plural tejas being used to designate indigenous Pueblo settlements. A 1760s map by Jacques-Nicolas Bellin shows a village named Teijas on Trinity River, close to the site of modern Crockett. Texas is the second-largest U. S. state, with an area of 268,820 square miles. Though 10% larger than France and twice as large as Germany or Japan, it ranks only 27th worldwide amongst country subdivisions by size. If it were an independent country, Texas would be the 40th largest behind Zambia. Texas is in the south central part of the United States of America. Three of its borders are defined by rivers; the Rio Grande forms a natural border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas to the south.
The Red River forms a natural border with Arkansas to the north. The Sabine River forms a natural border with Louisiana to the east; the Texas Panhandle has an eastern border with Oklahoma at 100° W, a northern border with Oklahoma at 36°30' N and a western
U.S. Route 83 in Texas
U. S. Highway 83, dedicated as the Texas Vietnam Veterans Memorial Highway, is a U. S. Highway in the U. S. state of Texas that begins at US 77 in Brownsville and follows the Rio Grande to Laredo heads north through Abilene to the Oklahoma border north of Perryton, the seat of Ochiltree County. It is the longest highway in Texas at a length of about 895 miles, besting the east–west I-10, which has a length of 879 miles. In the Lower Rio Grande Valley, US 83 is a freeway, at or close to interstate standards from Brownsville to Penitas. In May 2013, the Texas Department of Transportation applied to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials to designate this 48-mile section as I-2. After the Special Committee on Route Numbering disapproved the application, the AASHTO Board of Directors approved the I-2 designation, conditional on the concurrence of the Federal Highway Administration. On May 29, 2013, the segment of US 83 was approved as an I-69 connector using the I-2 designation extending 46 miles from Harlingen to west of Mission.
US 83's southern terminus is at a concurrency with I-69E/US 77 on the south side of Brownsville at the Brownsville – Veterans Port of Entry at the US/Mexico border. It remains co-signed with I-69E/US 77 until Harlingen, where I-69E/US 77 makes a sharp turn northward and US 83 maintains a westerly route to McAllen, concurrent with I-2 until Palmview. From there, the highway parallels the Rio Grande until Laredo where it makes a northwesterly turn toward Carrizo Springs, the seat of Dimmit County; the speed limit on US 83 is 75 mph through Dimmit County. Merging with I-35 just south of downtown, US 83 remains co-signed with the interstate until an exit at Botines, Texas. From there, it continues northward. US 83 is co-signed with I-10 for 8 miles, turning northward and leaving I-10 at the Kimble County Airport. After continuing northward through several rural western Texas towns, US 83 merges with US 84 east of Tuscola, where it makes a sharp turn back to the north. US 83/84 remains a co-signed route until Abilene, where US 84 turns to the northwest and US 83 remains northbound, merging with US 277 on the west side of the city.
US 83/277 remains a co-signed route until 2 miles north of Anson, where US 277 turns northeast, US 83, northwest. After merging with US 380 in Aspermont and sharing a route, US 83 continues northward, merging with US 62 in Paducah. US 83/62 continues as a co-signed route until 15 miles south of Wellington, where US 62 makes a sharp turn eastward, leaving US 83 to continue northward, where it crosses into Oklahoma 6 miles north of Perryton. Texas portal U. S. Roads portal Business routes of U. S. Route 83 in Texas Media related to U. S. Route 83 in Texas at Wikimedia Commons
1930 United States Census
The Fifteenth United States Census, conducted by the Census Bureau one month from April 1, 1930, determined the resident population of the United States to be 122,775,046, an increase of 13.7 percent over the 106,021,537 persons enumerated during the 1920 Census. The 1930 Census collected the following information: address name relationship to head of family home owned or rented if owned, value of home if rented, monthly rent whether owned a radio set whether on a farm sex race age marital status and, if married, age at first marriage school attendance literacy birthplace of person, their parents if foreign born: language spoken at home before coming to the U. S. year of immigration whether naturalized ability to speak English occupation and class of worker whether at work previous day veteran status if Indian: whether of full or mixed blood tribal affiliationFull documentation for the 1930 census, including census forms and enumerator instructions, is available from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series.
The original census enumeration sheets were microfilmed by the Census Bureau in 1949. The microfilmed census is located on 2,667 rolls of microfilm, available from the National Archives and Records Administration. Several organizations host images of the microfilmed census online, digital indices. Microdata from the 1930 census are available through the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series. Aggregate data for small areas, together with electronic boundary files, can be downloaded from the National Historical Geographic Information System. 1930 Census Questions Hosted at CensusFinder.com 1931 U. S Census Report Contains 1930 Census results Historic US Census data 1930Census.com: 1930 United States Census for Genealogy & Family History Research 1930 Interactive US Census Find stories and more attached to names on the 1930 US census
Comanche
The Comanche are a Native American nation from the Great Plains whose historic territory consisted of most of present-day northwestern Texas and adjacent areas in eastern New Mexico, southeastern Colorado, southwestern Kansas, western Oklahoma, northern Chihuahua. The Comanche people are federally recognized as the Comanche Nation, headquartered in Lawton, Oklahoma; the Comanche were the dominant tribe on the southern Great Plains in the 19th centuries. They are characterized as "Lords of the Plains" and, reflecting their prominence, they presided over a large area called Comancheria which a modern historian has characterized as the "Comanche Empire." Comanche power was based on bison, horses and raiding. They hunted the bison of the Great Plains for food and skins, they took captives from weaker tribes during warfare, using them as slaves or selling them to the Spanish and Mexican settlers. They took thousands of captives from the Spanish and American settlers and incorporated them into Comanche society.
Decimated by European diseases and encroachment by Americans on Comancheria, the Comanche were defeated by the United States army in 1875 and confined to a reservation in Oklahoma. In the 21st century, the Comanche Nation has 17,000 members, around 7,000 of whom reside in tribal jurisdictional area around Lawton, Fort Sill, the surrounding areas of southwestern Oklahoma; the Comanche Homecoming Annual Dance is held annually in Oklahoma, in mid-July. The Comanche language is a Numic language of the Uto-Aztecan family, sometimes classified as a Shoshoni dialect. Only about 1% of Comanches speak their language today; the name "Comanche" is from the Ute name for them, kɨmantsi, but known to the French as Padoucas, an adaption of their Sioux name, among themselves as Nʉmʉnʉ. The Comanche Nation is headquartered in Oklahoma, their tribal jurisdictional area is located in Caddo, Cotton, Jefferson, Kiowa and Tillman Counties. Membership of the tribe requires a 1/8 blood quantum; the tribe issues tribal vehicle tags.
They have their own Department of Higher Education awarding scholarships and financial aid for members' college educations. Additionally, they operate the Comanche Nation College in Lawton, they own four casinos. The casinos are Comanche Nation Casino in Lawton. In 2002, the tribe founded a two-year tribal college in Lawton, it has since closed. Each July, Comanches from across the United States gather to celebrate their heritage and culture in Walters at the annual Comanche Homecoming powwow; the Comanche Nation Fair is held every September. The Comanche Little Ponies host two annual dances—one over New Year's and one in May; the Comanche emerged as a distinct group shortly before 1700, when they broke off from the Shoshone people living along the upper Platte River in Wyoming. In 1680, the Comanche acquired horses from the Pueblo Indians after the Pueblo Revolt, they separated from the Shoshone after this, as the horses allowed them greater mobility in their search for better hunting grounds. The horse was a key element in the emergence of a distinctive Comanche culture.
It was of such strategic importance that some scholars suggested that the Comanche broke away from the Shoshone and moved southward to search for additional sources of horses among the settlers of New Spain to the south The Comanche may have been the first group of Plains natives to incorporate the horse into their culture and may have introduced the animal to the other Plains peoples. From Natchitoches in Spanish Louisiana, Athanase de Mézières reported in 1770 that the Comanches were "so skilful in horsemanship that they have no equal, so daring that they never ask for or grant truces, in possession of such a territory that... they only just fall short of possessing all of the conveniences of the earth, have no need to covet the trade pursued by the rest of the Indians."Their original migration took them to the southern Great Plains, into a sweep of territory extending from the Arkansas River to central Texas. They reached present-day New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle by 1700, forcing the Lipan Apache people southward, defeating them in a nine-day battle along the Rio del Fierro in 1723.
The river may be the location mentioned by Athanase de Mézières in 1772, containing "a mass of metal which the Indians say is hard, thick and composed of iron", which they "venerate...as an extraordinary manifestation of nature", the Comanche's calling it Ta-pic-ta-carre, Po-i-wisht-carre, or Po-a-cat-le-pi-le-carre, the general area containing a "large number of meteoric masses". By 1777, the Lipan Apache had retreated to the Mescalero Apache to Coahuila. During that time, their population increased because of the abundance of buffalo, an influx of Shoshone migrants, their adoption of significant numbers of women and children taken captive from rival groups; the Comanche never formed a single cohesive tribal unit, but were divided into a dozen autonomous groups, called bands. These groups shared the same language and culture, fought each other, they were estimate
United States
Texas
Runnels County, Texas
