1.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
2.
U.S. state
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A U. S. state is a constituent political entity of the United States of America. There are 50 states, which are together in a union with each other. Each state holds administrative jurisdiction over a geographic territory. Due to the shared sovereignty between each state and the government, Americans are citizens of both the federal republic and of the state in which they reside. State citizenship and residency are flexible, and no government approval is required to move between states, except for persons covered by certain types of court orders. States range in population from just under 600,000 to over 39 million, four states use the term commonwealth rather than state in their full official names. States are divided into counties or county-equivalents, which may be assigned some local authority but are not sovereign. County or county-equivalent structure varies widely by state, State governments are allocated power by the people through their individual constitutions. All are grounded in principles, and each provides for a government. States possess a number of powers and rights under the United States Constitution, Constitution has been amended, and the interpretation and application of its provisions have changed. The general tendency has been toward centralization and incorporation, with the government playing a much larger role than it once did. There is a debate over states rights, which concerns the extent and nature of the states powers and sovereignty in relation to the federal government. States and their residents are represented in the federal Congress, a legislature consisting of the Senate. Each state is represented in the Senate by two senators, and is guaranteed at least one Representative in the House, members of the House are elected from single-member districts. Representatives are distributed among the states in proportion to the most recent constitutionally mandated decennial census, the Constitution grants to Congress the authority to admit new states into the Union. Since the establishment of the United States in 1776, the number of states has expanded from the original 13 to 50, alaska and Hawaii are the most recent states admitted, both in 1959. The Constitution is silent on the question of states have the power to secede from the Union. Shortly after the Civil War, the U. S. Supreme Court, in Texas v. White, as a result, while the governments of the various states share many similar features, they often vary greatly with regard to form and substance
3.
Baylor County, Texas
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Baylor County is a county located in the U. S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, its population was 3,726, the county was created in 1858 and later organized in 1879. It is named for Henry Weidner Baylor, a surgeon in the Texas Rangers during the Mexican-American War, Baylor County is not to be confused with Baylor University, which is located approximately 230 miles southeast in McLennan County. Nor should its namesake be confused with Confederate Colonel George W. Baylor, Baylor County is represented in the Texas House of Representatives by the Republican James Frank, a businessman from Wichita Falls. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 901 square miles. U. S. Highway 82 U. S. Highway 183 U. S. Highway 277 U. S. Highway 283 State Highway 114 As of the census of 2000, there were 4,093 people,1,791 households, and 1,156 families residing in the county. The population density was 5 people per square mile, there were 2,820 housing units at an average density of 3 per square mile. There were 26 unmarried heterosexual couples and no reported same-sex couples, in addition,33. 30% of all households were made up of individuals and 19. 2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.26 and the family size was 2.86. In the county, the population was out with 23. 4% under the age of 18,5. 5% from 18 to 24,21. 4% from 25 to 44,25. 6% from 45 to 64. The median age was 45 years, for every 100 females there were 89.50 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.70 males, the median income for a household in the county was $24,627, and the median income for a family was $34,583. Males had an income of $21,607 versus $19,571 for females. The per capita income for the county was $16,384,16. 1% of the population and 12. 9% of families were below the poverty line. 26. 3% of those under the age of 18 and 9% of those 65, according to the 2000 census,21. 2% of those aged over 25 did not have a high school diploma, while 32. 7% had a high school diploma. Roughly 8. 7% of the population had a degree,2. 3% had a masters degree. No males had doctoral degrees, while 0. 4% of females had a doctoral degree, almost all of Baylor County is served by the Seymour Independent School District, which also serves portions of adjacent counties. A small portion is served by the Olney Independent School District, the OISD portion was served by the Megargel Independent School District until MISD closed after May 2006
4.
2010 United States Census
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The 2010 United States Census, is the twenty-third and currently most recent United States national census. National Census Day, the day used for the census, was April 1,2010. As part of a drive to increase the accuracy,635,000 temporary enumerators were hired. The population of the United States was counted as 308,745,538, as required by the United States Constitution, the U. S. census has been conducted every 10 years since 1790. The 2000 U. S. Census was the previous census completed, participation in the U. S. Census is required by law in Title 13 of the United States Code. On January 25,2010, Census Bureau Director Robert Groves personally inaugurated the 2010 Census enumeration by counting World War II veteran Clifton Jackson, more than 120 million census forms were delivered by the U. S. Post Office beginning March 15,2010, the number of forms mailed out or hand-delivered by the Census Bureau was approximately 134 million on April 1,2010. The 2010 Census national mail participation rate was 74%, from April through July 2010, census takers visited households that did not return a form, an operation called non-response follow-up. In December 2010, the Census Bureau delivered population information to the president for apportionment, personally identifiable information will be available in 2082. The Census Bureau did not use a form for the 2010 Census. In several previous censuses, one in six households received this long form, the 2010 Census used only a short form asking ten basic questions, How many people were living or staying in this house, apartment, or mobile home on April 1,2010. Were there any additional people staying here on April 1,2010 that you did not include in Question 1, mark all that apply, Is this house, apartment, or mobile home – What is your telephone number. What is Person 1s age and Person 1s date of birth, is Person 1 of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin. Does Person 1 sometimes live or stay somewhere else, the form included space to repeat some or all of these questions for up to twelve residents total. In contrast to the 2000 census, an Internet response option was not offered, detailed socioeconomic information collected during past censuses will continue to be collected through the American Community Survey. The survey provides data about communities in the United States on a 1-year or 3-year cycle, depending on the size of the community, rather than once every 10 years. A small percentage of the population on a basis will receive the survey each year. In June 2009, the U. S. Census Bureau announced that it would count same-sex married couples, however, the final form did not contain a separate same-sex married couple option
5.
Central Time Zone
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The North American Central Time Zone is a time zone in parts of Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central America, some Caribbean Islands, and part of the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Central Standard Time is six hours behind Coordinated Universal Time, during summer most of the zone uses daylight saving time, and changes to Central Daylight Time which is five hours behind UTC. The province of Manitoba is the province or territory in Canada that observes Central Time in all areas. Also, most of the province of Saskatchewan is on Central Standard Time year-round, major exceptions include Lloydminster, a city situated on the boundary between Alberta and Saskatchewan. The city charter stipulates that it shall observe Mountain Time and DST, putting the community on the time as all of Alberta, including the major cities of Calgary. As a result, during the summer, clocks in the province match those in Alberta. The Central Time Zone is the second most populous in the US after the Eastern Time Zone, lanett and Valley observe Eastern Time historically because they were textile mill towns and the original home office of their mills was in West Point, Georgia. Some eastern counties observe Central Time because they are close to the border of the Middle Tennessee counties surrounding the Nashville metropolitan area. Louisiana Michigan, All of Michigan observes Eastern Time except the four Upper Peninsula counties that border Wisconsin, other westernmost counties from this area such as Ontonagon observe Eastern Time. South Dakota, Eastern half as divided by the Missouri river adjacent to the state capital, note, the metropolitan area of Pierre is Central, including Fort Pierre. Wisconsin Most of Mexico—roughly the eastern three-fourths—lies in the Central Time Zone, except for six northwestern states, the federal entities of Mexico that observe Central Time, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua all use Central Standard Time year-round. The Galápagos Islands in Ecuador uses Central Standard Time all year-round, Daylight saving time is in effect in much of the Central time zone between mid-March and early November. The modified time is called Central Daylight Time and is UTC−5, in Canada, Saskatchewan does not observe a time change. One reason that Saskatchewan does not take part in a change is that, geographically. The province elected to move onto permanent daylight saving by being part of the Central Time Zone, Mexico decided not to go along with this change and observes their horario de verano from the first Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October. In December 2009, the Mexican Congress allowed ten border cities, eight of which are in states that observe Central Time, to adopt the U. S. daylight time schedule effective in 2010
6.
Daylight saving time
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Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour so that evening daylight lasts an hour longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions that use Daylight Savings Time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring, American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin proposed a form of daylight time in 1784. New Zealander George Hudson proposed the idea of saving in 1895. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation, starting on April 30,1916, many countries have used it at various times since then, particularly since the energy crisis of the 1970s. The practice has both advocates and critics, DST clock shifts sometimes complicate timekeeping and can disrupt travel, billing, record keeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and sleep patterns. Computer software often adjusts clocks automatically, but policy changes by various jurisdictions of DST dates, industrialized societies generally follow a clock-based schedule for daily activities that do not change throughout the course of the year. The time of day that individuals begin and end work or school, North and south of the tropics daylight lasts longer in summer and shorter in winter, with the effect becoming greater as one moves away from the tropics. However, they will have one hour of daylight at the start of each day. Supporters have also argued that DST decreases energy consumption by reducing the need for lighting and heating, DST is also of little use for locations near the equator, because these regions see only a small variation in daylight in the course of the year. After ancient times, equal-length civil hours eventually supplanted unequal, so civil time no longer varies by season, unequal hours are still used in a few traditional settings, such as some monasteries of Mount Athos and all Jewish ceremonies. This 1784 satire proposed taxing window shutters, rationing candles, and waking the public by ringing church bells, despite common misconception, Franklin did not actually propose DST, 18th-century Europe did not even keep precise schedules. However, this changed as rail transport and communication networks came to require a standardization of time unknown in Franklins day. Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Hudson, whose shift work job gave him time to collect insects. An avid golfer, he also disliked cutting short his round at dusk and his solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later. The proposal was taken up by the Liberal Member of Parliament Robert Pearce, a select committee was set up to examine the issue, but Pearces bill did not become law, and several other bills failed in the following years. Willett lobbied for the proposal in the UK until his death in 1915, william Sword Frost, mayor of Orillia, Ontario, introduced daylight saving time in the municipality during his tenure from 1911 to 1912. Starting on April 30,1916, the German Empire and its World War I ally Austria-Hungary were the first to use DST as a way to conserve coal during wartime, Britain, most of its allies, and many European neutrals soon followed suit. Russia and a few other countries waited until the year
7.
UTC-5
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UTC−05,00 is a time offset that subtracts five hours from Coordinated Universal Time. In North America, it is observed in the Eastern Time Zone during standard time, the western Caribbean uses it year round. The southwestern and northwestern portions of Indiana Mexico – Central Zone Central, in most of Mexico, daylight time starts a few weeks after the United States. Communities on the U. S. border that observe Central Time follow the U. S. daylight time schedule
8.
ZIP Code
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ZIP Codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, was chosen to suggest that the travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly. The basic format consists of five numerical digits, an extended ZIP+4 code, introduced in 1983, includes the five digits of the ZIP Code, a hyphen, and four additional digits that determine a more specific location within a given ZIP Code. The term ZIP Code was originally registered as a servicemark by the U. S. Postal Service, USPS style for ZIP is all caps and the c in code is also capitalized, although style sheets for some publications use sentence case or lowercase. The early history and context of postal codes began with postal district/zone numbers, the United States Post Office Department implemented postal zones for numerous large cities in 1943. For example, Mr. John Smith 3256 Epiphenomenal Avenue Minneapolis 16, by the early 1960s a more organized system was needed, and on July 1,1963, non-mandatory five-digit ZIP Codes were introduced nationwide. Three months later, on October 1,1963, the U. S, an earlier list in June had proposed capitalized abbreviations ranging from two to five letters. The abbreviations have remained unchanged, with one exception, according to the historian of the U. S. Robert Moon, an employee of the post office, is considered the father of the ZIP Code, he submitted his proposal in 1944 while working as a postal inspector. The post office gives credit to Moon only for the first three digits of the ZIP Code, which describe the sectional center facility or sec center, an SCF is a central mail processing facility with those three digits. The SCF sorts mail to all post offices with those first three digits in their ZIP Codes, the mail is sorted according to the final two digits of the ZIP Code and sent to the corresponding post offices in the early morning. Sectional centers do not deliver mail and are not open to the public, Mail picked up at post offices is sent to their own SCF in the afternoon, where the mail is sorted overnight. The United States Post Office used a character, which it called Mr. ZIP. He was often depicted with a such as USE ZIP CODE in the selvage of panes of stamps or on labels contained in, or the covers of. In 1983, the U. S. Postal Service introduced an expanded ZIP Code system that it called ZIP+4, often called plus-four codes, add-on codes, or add ons. But initial attempts to promote use of the new format met with public resistance. For Post Office Boxes, the rule is that each box has its own ZIP+4 code. However, there is no rule, so the ZIP+4 Code must be looked up individually for each box. It is common to use add-on code 9998 for mail addressed to the postmaster,9999 for general delivery, for a unique ZIP Code, the add-on code is typically 0001
9.
Geographic Names Information System
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It is a type of gazetteer. GNIS was developed by the United States Geological Survey in cooperation with the United States Board on Geographic Names to promote the standardization of feature names, the database is part of a system that includes topographic map names and bibliographic references. The names of books and historic maps that confirm the feature or place name are cited, variant names, alternatives to official federal names for a feature, are also recorded. Each feature receives a permanent, unique feature record identifier, sometimes called the GNIS identifier, the database never removes an entry, except in cases of obvious duplication. The GNIS accepts proposals for new or changed names for U. S. geographical features, the general public can make proposals at the GNIS web site and can review the justifications and supporters of the proposals. The Bureau of the Census defines Census Designated Places as a subset of locations in the National Geographic Names Database, U. S. Postal Service Publication 28 gives standards for addressing mail. In this publication, the postal service defines two-letter state abbreviations, street identifiers such as boulevard and street, department of the Interior, U. S. Geological Survey, National Mapping Division, Digital Gazeteer, Users Manual. Least Heat Moon, William, Blue Highways, A Journey Into America, standard was withdrawn in September 2008, See Federal Register Notice, Vol.73, No. 170, page 51276 Report, Principles, Policies, and Procedures, Domestic Geographic Names, U. S. Postal Service Publication 28, November 2000. Board on Geographic Names website Geographic Names Information System Proposals from the general public Meeting minutes
10.
County seat
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A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is used in the United States, Canada, Romania, China, in the United Kingdom and Ireland, county towns have a similar function. In the United States, counties are the subdivisions of a state. Depending on the state, counties may provide services to the public, impose taxes. Some types of subdivisions, such as townships, may be incorporated or unincorporated. The city, town, or populated place that houses county government is known as the seat of its respective county, a county seat is usually, but not always, an incorporated municipality. The exceptions include the county seats of counties that have no incorporated municipalities within their borders, such as Arlington County, Virginia, likewise, some county seats may not be incorporated in their own right, but are located within incorporated municipalities. For example, Cape May Court House, New Jersey, though unincorporated, is a section of Middle Township, in some of the colonial states, county seats include or formerly included Court House as part of their name. Most counties have only one county seat, an example is Harrison County, Mississippi, which lists both Biloxi and Gulfport as county seats. The practice of multiple county seat towns dates from the days when travel was difficult, there have been few efforts to eliminate the two-seat arrangement, since a county seat is a source of pride for the towns involved. There are 36 counties with multiple county seats in 11 states, Coffee County, for example, the official county seat is Greensboro, but an additional courthouse has been located in nearby High Point since 1938. For example, Clearwater is the county seat of Pinellas County, Florida, in New England, the town, not the county, is the primary division of local government. Historically, counties in this region have served mainly as dividing lines for the judicial systems. Connecticut and Rhode Island have no county level of government and thus no county seats, in Vermont, Massachusetts, and Maine the county seats are legally designated shire towns. County government consists only of a Superior Court and Sheriff, both located in the shire town. Bennington County has two towns, but the Sheriff is located in Bennington. In Massachusetts, most government functions which would otherwise be performed by county governments in other states are performed by town governments. As such, Massachusetts has dissolved many of its county governments, two counties in South Dakota have their county seat and government services centered in a neighboring county
11.
Texas
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Texas is the second largest state in the United States by both area and population. Other major cities include Austin, the second most populous state capital in the U. S. Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State to signify its former status as an independent republic, and as a reminder of the states struggle for independence from Mexico. The Lone Star can be found on the Texan state flag, the origin of Texass name is from the word Tejas, which means friends in the Caddo language. Due to its size and geologic features such as the Balcones Fault, although Texas is popularly associated with the U. S. southwestern deserts, less than 10 percent of Texas land area is desert. Most of the centers are located in areas of former prairies, grasslands, forests. Traveling from east to west, one can observe terrain that ranges from coastal swamps and piney woods, to rolling plains and rugged hills, the term six flags over Texas refers to several nations that have ruled over the territory. Spain was the first European country to claim the area of Texas, Mexico controlled the territory until 1836 when Texas won its independence, becoming an independent Republic. In 1845, Texas joined the United States as the 28th state, the states annexation set off a chain of events that caused 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, after the Civil War and the restoration of its representation in the federal government, Texas entered a long period of economic stagnation. One Texan industry that thrived after the Civil War was cattle, due to its long history as a center of the industry, Texas is associated with the image of the cowboy. The states economic fortunes changed in the early 20th century, when oil discoveries initiated a boom in the state. With strong investments in universities, Texas developed a diversified economy, as of 2010 it shares the top of the list of the most Fortune 500 companies with California at 57. With a growing base of industry, the leads in many industries, including agriculture, petrochemicals, energy, computers and electronics, aerospace. Texas has led the nation in export revenue since 2002 and has the second-highest gross state product. The name Texas, based on the Caddo word tejas meaning friends or allies, was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves, during Spanish colonial rule, the area was officially known as the Nuevo Reino de Filipinas, La Provincia de Texas. Texas is the second largest U. S. state, behind Alaska, though 10 percent larger than France and almost 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 Chile, 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, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south
12.
Brazos River
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It sometimes is used to mark the boundary between East Texas and West Texas. Another major tributary of the Upper Brazos is the Clear Fork Brazos River, the main stem of the Brazos is dammed in three places, all north of Waco, forming Possum Kingdom Lake, Lake Granbury, and Lake Whitney. Of these three, Granbury was the last to be completed, in 1969, when its construction was proposed in the mid-1950s, John Graves wrote the book, Goodbye to a River. A small municipal dam is near the city limit of Waco at the end of the Baylor campus. This impoundment of the Brazos through Waco is locally called Lake Brazos, a total of nineteen major reservoirs are located along the Brazos. Later Spanish accounts call it Los Brazos de Dios, for which there were several different explanations. In 1842, native Indian commissioner of Texas, Ethan Stroud established a trading post on this river, Brazos River was the scene of a battle between the Texas Navy and Mexican Navy during the Texas Revolution. Texas Navy ship Independence was defeated by one Mexican vessel, the river was important for navigation before and after the American Civil War, and steam boats sailed as far up the river as Washington-on-the-Brazos. While attempts to improve navigation on the river continued, railroads proved more reliable. The Brazos River also flooded, often seriously, on a basis before a piecemeal levee system was replaced. The river is important today as a source of water for power, irrigation. The water is administered by the Brazos River Authority, the river also features prominently in a number of prison songs, because at one time nearly every prison in Texas was near the Brazos. On June 2,2016, the rising of the river required evacuations for portions of Brazoria County, the Brazos River watershed covers a total area of 119,174 square kilometers. Within the watershed lie 42 lakes and rivers which have a storage capacity of 2.5 million acre-feet. The Brazos watershed also has a ground water availability of 119,275 acre-feet per year. Approximately 31% of the use within the watershed is cropland. Approximately 61% is grassland shrubland and forest while urban use only makes up 4. 6%, the population density within the watershed is 19.5 people per square kilometer. The main water quality issues within the Brazos Watershed are high nutrient loads, high bacterial and salinity levels and these water quality issues can be attributed to livestock, fertilizer and chemical run off
13.
Wichita Falls, Texas
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Wichita Falls is a city in and the county seat of Wichita County, Texas, United States. Wichita Falls is the city of the Wichita Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Archer, Clay. According to the 2010 census, the city had a population of 104,553, of interest is the Newby-McMahon Building, constructed downtown in 1919 and featured in Robert Ripleys Ripleys Believe It or Not. The Choctaw Native Americans settled the area in the early 19th century from their native Mississippi area once Americans negotiated to relocate them after the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, American settlers arrived in the 1860s to form cattle ranches. The city was officially titled Wichita Falls on September 27,1872, on that day, a sale of town lots was held at what is now the corner of Seventh and Ohio Streets – the birthplace of the city. The Fort Worth & Denver City Railway arrived in September 1882, the city grew westwards from the original FW&DC train depot which was located at the northwest corner of Seventh Street and the FW&DC. This area is now referred to as the Depot Square Historic District, the early history of Wichita Falls well into the 20th century also rests on the work of two entrepreneurs, Joseph A. Kemp and his brother-in-law, Frank Kell. Kemp and Kell were pioneers in food processing and retailing, flour milling, railroads, cattle, banking, a flood in 1886 destroyed the original falls on the Wichita River for which the city was named. After nearly 100 years of wanting to visit the nonexistent falls. The recreated falls are 54 ft high and recirculate at 3,500 gallons per minute and they are visible to south-bound traffic on Interstate 44. The city is seeking funding to rebuild and restore the downtown area. Both firms continued to use a portion of their former refineries as gasoline/oil terminal facilities for many years, a devastating tornado hit the north and northwest portions of Wichita Falls along with Sheppard Air Force Base during the afternoon of April 3,1964. As the first violent tornado on record to hit the Wichita Falls area, it left seven dead, additionally, the tornado caused roughly $15 million in property damage with about 225 homes destroyed and another 250 damaged. It was rated as an F5, the highest rating on the Fujita scale, an F4 tornado struck the heavily populated southern sections of Wichita Falls in the late afternoon on Tuesday, April 10,1979. It was part of an outbreak that produced 30 tornadoes around the region and it left 20,000 people homeless and caused $400 million in damage, a U. S. record not topped by an individual tornado until the F5 Moore-Oklahoma City tornado of May 3,1999. Wichita Falls is about 15 miles south of the border with Oklahoma,115 mi northwest of Fort Worth, and 140 mi southwest of Oklahoma City. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 70.71 square miles. Wichita Falls experiences a subtropical climate, with some of the highest summer daily maximum temperatures in the entire U. S. outside of the Desert Southwest
14.
Abilene, Texas
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Abilene is a city in Taylor and Jones counties in West Texas, United States. The population was 117,063 according to the 2010 census and it is the principal city of the Abilene Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had a 2011 estimated population of 166,416. It is the county seat of Taylor County, Dyess Air Force Base is located on the west side of the city. Abilene is located off Interstate 20, between exits 279 on its edge and 292 on the east. Abilene is 150 miles west of Fort Worth, Texas, the city is looped by I-20 to the north, US 83/84 on the west, and Loop 322 to the east. A railroad divides the city down the center north and south. The historic downtown area is on the side of the railroad. Many developments have begun in these three areas within the last few years, established by cattlemen as a stock shipping point on the Texas and Pacific Railway in 1881, the city was named after Abilene, Kansas, the original endpoint for the Chisholm Trail. The T&P had bypassed the town of Buffalo Gap, the county seat at the time, eventually, a landowner north of Buffalo Gap, Clabe Merchant, known as the father of Abilene, chose the name for the new town. According to a Dallas newspaper, about 800 people had begun camping at the townsite. The town was out by Colonel J. Stoddard Johnson. By the end of the first day,139 lots were sold for a total of $23,810, and another 178 lots were sold the next day for $27,550. Abilene was incorporated soon after being founded in 1881, and Abilenians began to set their sights on bringing the county seat to Abilene, in 1888, the Progressive Committee was formed to attract businesses to the area, which later became the Board of Trade in 1890. By 1900,3,411 people lived in Abilene, and in that decade, however, this committee failed when the population only hit 9,204 in 1910. Replacing it was the Young Mens Booster Club, which became the Abilene Chamber of Commerce in 1914, the cornerstone was laid for the first of three future universities in Abilene, called Simmons College, in 1891, which later became Hardin-Simmons University. Childers Classical Institute followed in 1906, currently Abilene Christian University, in 1923, McMurry College was founded and later became McMurry University. Much more recently, Abilene succeeded in bringing Cisco Junior College and Texas State Technical College branches to Abilene, with the Cisco Junior College headquarters being located in Abilene. In 1940, Abilene raised the money to land for a U. S. Army base, southwest of town, named Camp Barkeley
15.
United States Census Bureau
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The United States Census Bureau is a principal agency of the U. S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureaus primary mission is conducting the U. S. Census every ten years, in addition to the decennial census, the Census Bureau continually conducts dozens of other censuses and surveys, including the American Community Survey, the U. S. Economic Census, and the Current Population Survey, furthermore, economic and foreign trade indicators released by the federal government typically contain data produced by the Census Bureau. The Bureaus various censuses and surveys help allocate over $400 billion in federal funds every year and help states, local communities, the Census Bureau is part of the U. S. Department of Commerce and its director is appointed by the President of the United States. The Census Bureau now conducts a population count every 10 years in years ending with a 0. Between censuses, the Census Bureau makes population estimates and projections, the Census Bureau is mandated with fulfilling these obligations, the collecting of statistics about the nation, its people, and economy. The Census Bureaus legal authority is codified in Title 13 of the United States Code, the Census Bureau also conducts surveys on behalf of various federal government and local government agencies on topics such as employment, crime, health, consumer expenditures, and housing. Within the bureau, these are known as surveys and are conducted perpetually between and during decennial population counts. The Census Bureau also conducts surveys of manufacturing, retail, service. Between 1790 and 1840, the census was taken by marshals of the judicial districts, the Census Act of 1840 established a central office which became known as the Census Office. Several acts followed that revised and authorized new censuses, typically at the 10-year intervals, in 1902, the temporary Census Office was moved under the Department of Interior, and in 1903 it was renamed the Census Bureau under the new Department of Commerce and Labor. The department was intended to consolidate overlapping statistical agencies, but Census Bureau officials were hindered by their role in the department. An act in 1920 changed the date and authorized manufacturing censuses every 2 years, in 1929, a bill was passed mandating the House of Representatives be reapportioned based on the results of the 1930 Census. In 1954, various acts were codified into Title 13 of the US Code, by law, the Census Bureau must count everyone and submit state population totals to the U. S. President by December 31 of any year ending in a zero. States within the Union receive the results in the spring of the following year, the United States Census Bureau defines four statistical regions, with nine divisions. The Census Bureau regions are widely used. for data collection, the Census Bureau definition is pervasive. Title 13 of the U. S. Code establishes penalties for the disclosure of this information, all Census employees must sign an affidavit of non-disclosure prior to employment. The Bureau cannot share responses, addresses or personal information with anyone including United States or foreign government, only after 72 years does the information collected become available to other agencies or the general public
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Geology of Wichita Falls, Texas
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The exposed strata at the surface in and around Wichita Falls are the products of one ancient period of deposition with a modest amount of recent and modern alteration. In all cases, the strata are products of terrigenous environments dominated by fluvial depositional and erosional systems, the rocks found in and around Wichita Falls result from southwesterly-flowing Permian streams that deposited sands in channels and silts and clays on the surrounding floodplains. Calcium-carbonate rich soils concurrently developed adjacent to these streams and these were likely buried by further Permian sedimentation and then lithified. Pleistocene erosion removed the younger rocks, exposing the current strata, exposures of sediments indicate that northeast-flowing streams locally deposited silts, clays, sands, and some gravels on the Permian rocks. These are subsequently modified by stream erosion and deposition. In the Permian geologic period, North-Central Texas was a part of the coastal zone of equatorial Pangea. The rocks of the Permian Basin of West Texas record a contemporaneous shallow inland sea, the resulting topography provided northeast-to-southwest gradients for stream flow and sediment movement. The Petrolia Formation dominates the exposed Permian strata in Wichita falls, the map describes the formation as 360–400 feet of weakly or unstratified mudstone with laminated, cross-bedded sandstone lenses. The formation increases in mudstone content upsection, sandstone lenses contain terrestrial fossils of plants, vertebrates, and footprints. The unit contains calcareous nodules of varying sizes as well as poorly indurated conglomerate with vertebrate fossils, in general the entire package is only weakly lithified, perhaps indicating that the region was not appreciably covered by a thick package of younger strata. Several correlated sandstone units crop out in the immediate region and these dominate the region adjacent to the Seymour Highway, on the slopes to the south of the Wichita River. The Texas Atlas of Geology mapped these as ss6, most outcrops are buff colored medium-grained, well-sorted quartzose sandstones. These exhibit extensive cross-bedding and soft-sediment deformation features, some deposits are friable, others well cemented. Locally, there appears to be three prominent layers of sandstone separated by mudstone, because of variable erosion rates, each influences topography by forming ledges and benches, and in places may form mesa-like landforms. In and around the city, these occur roughly at 960,1000, up to 30 feet of fluvial deposits of unconsolidated gravel, sand, and silt mapped as terrace deposition by the 1987 Texas Atlas of Geology. Gravels are granule-to-cobble size, with clasts of angular to well-rounded quartzite, quartz, the sands are orange-brown to tan, fine- to coarse-grained with preserved soils. Up to 30 feet of floodplain and channel sand, silt, clay and this includes terrace deposits near floodplain, colluvium on valley slopes, and local wind-blown sand and silt. The region is underlain with shallowly west-dipping strata, but a significant uplifted block is found in the subsurface immediately north of Wichita Falls
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Stratum
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In geology and related fields, a stratum is a layer of sedimentary rock or soil with internally consistent characteristics that distinguish it from other layers. The stratum is the unit in a stratigraphic column and forms the basis of the study of stratigraphy. Each layer is one of a number of parallel layers that lie one upon another. They may extend over hundreds of thousands of kilometers of the Earths surface. Strata are typically seen as bands of different colored or differently structured material exposed in cliffs, road cuts, quarries, individual bands may vary in thickness from a few millimeters to a kilometer or more. Each band represents a mode of deposition, river silt, beach sand, coal swamp, sand dune, lava bed. Geologists study rock strata and categorize them by the material of beds, each distinct layer is typically assigned to the name of sheet, usually based on a town, river, mountain, or region where the formation is exposed and available for study. For example, the Burgess Shale is an exposure of dark, occasionally fossiliferous. Slight distinctions in material in a formation may be described as members, formations are collected into groups while groups may be collected into supergroups. Archaeological horizon Geologic formation Geologic map Geologic unit Law of superposition Bed GeoWhen Database
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Permian
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The Permian is a geologic period and system which spans 46.7 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period 298.9 million years ago, to the beginning of the Triassic Period 252.2 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleozoic Era, the following Triassic Period belongs to the Mesozoic Era, the concept of the Permian was introduced in 1841 by geologist Sir Roderick Murchison, who named it after the city of Perm. The Permian witnessed the diversification of the early amniotes into the groups of the mammals, turtles, lepidosaurs. The world at the time was dominated by two known as Pangaea and Siberia, surrounded by a global ocean called Panthalassa. The Carboniferous rainforest collapse left behind vast regions of desert within the continental interior, amniotes, who could better cope with these drier conditions, rose to dominance in place of their amphibian ancestors. The Permian ended with the Permian–Triassic extinction event, the largest mass extinction in Earths history, in which nearly 90% of marine species and it would take well into the Triassic for life to recover from this catastrophe. Recovery from the Permian-Triassic extinction event was protracted, on land, the term Permian was introduced into geology in 1841 by Sir R. I. Murchison, president of the Geological Society of London, who identified typical strata in extensive Russian explorations undertaken with Edouard de Verneuil, the region now lies in the Perm Krai of Russia. This could have in part caused the extinctions of marine species at the end of the period by severely reducing shallow coastal areas preferred by many marine organisms. During the Permian, all the Earths major landmasses were collected into a supercontinent known as Pangaea. The Cimmeria continent rifted away from Gondwana and drifted north to Laurasia, a new ocean was growing on its southern end, the Tethys Ocean, an ocean that would dominate much of the Mesozoic Era. Large continental landmass interiors experience climates with extreme variations of heat and cold, deserts seem to have been widespread on Pangaea. Such dry conditions favored gymnosperms, plants with seeds enclosed in a cover, over plants such as ferns that disperse spores in a wetter environment. The first modern trees appeared in the Permian, the climate in the Permian was quite varied. At the start of the Permian, the Earth was still in an Ice Age, glaciers receded around the mid-Permian period as the climate gradually warmed, drying the continents interiors. In the late Permian period, the drying continued although the temperature cycled between warm and cool cycles, Permian marine deposits are rich in fossil mollusks, echinoderms, and brachiopods. By the close of the Permian, trilobites and a host of other groups became extinct. Terrestrial life in the Permian included diverse plants, fungi, arthropods, the period saw a massive desert covering the interior of Pangaea
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Edward Drinker Cope
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Edward Drinker Cope was an American paleontologist and comparative anatomist, as well as a noted herpetologist and ichthyologist. He was a founder of the Neo-Lamarckism school of thought, born to a wealthy Quaker family, Cope distinguished himself as a child prodigy interested in science, he published his first scientific paper at the age of 19. Though his father tried to raise Cope as a gentleman farmer, Cope married his cousin and had one child, the family moved from Philadelphia to Haddonfield, New Jersey, although Cope would maintain a residence and museum in Philadelphia in his later years. Cope had little formal training, and he eschewed a teaching position for field work. He made regular trips to the American West, prospecting in the 1870s and 1880s, a personal feud between Cope and paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh led to a period of intense fossil-finding competition now known as the Bone Wars. Copes financial fortunes soured after failed mining ventures in the 1880s and he experienced a resurgence in his career toward the end of his life before dying on April 12,1897. Though Copes scientific pursuits nearly bankrupted him, his contributions helped to define the field of American paleontology and he was a prodigious writer, with 1,400 papers published over his lifetime, although his rivals debated the accuracy of his rapidly published works. He discovered, described, and named more than 1,000 vertebrate species, including hundreds of fishes and his proposal for the origin of mammalian molars is notable among his theoretical contributions. Copes rule, however, the hypothesis that mammalian lineages gradually grow larger over geologic time, Edward Drinker Cope was born on July 28,1840, the eldest son of Alfred and Hanna Cope. The death of his mother when he was three years old seemed to have had effect on young Edward, as he mentioned in his letters that he had no recollection of her. His stepmother, Rebecca Biddle, filled the role, Cope referred to her warmly, as well as his younger stepbrother. Alfred, a member of the Religious Society of Friends or Quakers, operated a lucrative shipping business started by his father, Thomas P. Cope. He was a philanthropist who gave money to the Society of Friends, the Philadelphia Zoological Gardens, Edward was born and raised in a large stone house called Fairfield, whose location is now within the boundaries of Philadelphia. The 8 acres of pristine and exotic gardens of the house offered a landscape that Edward was able to explore. The Copes began teaching their children to read and write at a young age, and took Edward on trips across New England and to museums, zoos. Copes interest in animals became apparent at an age, as did his natural artistic ability. Alfred intended to give his son the same education he himself had received. At age nine, Edward was sent to a day school in Philadelphia and in 1853 at the age of 12, Edward was sent to the Friends Boarding School at Westtown, near West Chester, Pennsylvania
20.
Trimerorhachis
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Trimerorhachis is an extinct genus of dvinosaurian temnospondyl within the family Trimerorhachidae. It is known from the Early Permian of the southwestern United States, the type species of Trimerorhachis, T. insignis, was named by American paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope in 1878. Cope named a species from Texas, T. mesops. The species T. rogersi and T. greggi are also from Texas, the length of the largest specimens of Trimerorhachis is estimated to have been almost a metre in length. Trimerorhachis has a triangular head with upward-facing eyes positioned near the front of the skull. The trunk is long and the limbs are relatively short, the presence of a branchial apparatus indicates that Trimerorhachis had external gills in life, much like the modern axolotl. The body of Trimerorhachis is also covered by small and very thin osteoderms. These osteoderms act as a covering, especially around the tail. Their weight may have helped Trimerorhachis sink to the bottom of lakes, Trimerorhachis was first described by Edward Drinker Cope in 1878. Specimens are often preserved as masses of bones that are mixed together, fossils are rarely found in articulation, although a slab of rock has been found with sixteen skulls and their associated vertebrae in an intact position. Most of these fossils preserve skulls and dorsal vertebrae, but rarely any other bones, Williston of the University of Chicago commented in 1915 that it will only be by the fortunate discovery of a connected skeleton that the tail, ribs, and feet will be made known. A nearly complete specimen was discovered the year near Seymour, Texas. In 1955, paleontologist Edwin Harris Colbert described the scales of Trimerorhachis and he noted that they were oval-shaped and overlapping and that each had a base layer of longitudinal striations covered by another layer ring-like ridges, the growth rings of the scales. The scales were more similar to fish scales than they were to reptile scales, in 1979, paleontologist Everett C. Olson claimed that there were no such scales in Trimerorhachis, and that Colbert was incorrect in his interpretation of the body covering of Trimerorhachis. A second species called T. sandovalensis was named from New Mexico in 1980, a nearly complete skeleton from the Abo Formation near Jemez Springs has been designated the holotype, but other fossils of the species are found throughout the state, giving it a wide distribution. Trimerorhachis was probably an aquatic temnospondyl. Like most dvinosaurs, it had external gills, the interclavicle and clavicle of the pectoral girdle are both very large, a feature that is shared with other aquatic temnospondyls. Many bones are poorly ossified, indicating that Trimerorhachis was poorly suited for movement on land, Trimerorhachis was probably an aquatic predator that fed on fish and small vertebrates
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Tetrapod
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The superclass Tetrapoda contains the four-limbed vertebrates known as tetrapods, it includes living and extinct amphibians, reptiles and mammals, as well as earlier extinct groups. The first tetrapods appeared by the late Devonian,367, the first tetrapods were primarily aquatic. Their descendants drove most amphibians to extinction as they began to dominate, the amniotes include the tetrapods that further evolved for flight—such as birds from among the dinosaurs, and bats from among the mammals. The change from a plan for breathing and navigating in water to a body plan enabling the animal to move on land is one of the most profound evolutionary changes known. It is also becoming increasingly well-understood as a result of more transitional fossil finds, many tetrapods have returned to partially aquatic or fully aquatic lives throughout the history of the group. Tetrapods can be defined in cladistics as the nearest common ancestor of all living amphibians and all living amniotes, the group so defined is the crown group, or crown tetrapods. The term tetrapodomorph is used for the definition, any animal that is more closely related to living amphibians, reptiles, birds. The group so defined is known as the total group. Stegocephalia is a larger group equivalent to some uses of the word tetrapod. Batrachomorphs are all sharing a more recent common ancestry with living amphibians than with living amniotes. Reptiliomorphs are all sharing a more recent common ancestry with living amniotes than with living amphibians. Tetrapoda includes four classes, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, however, that diversification process was interrupted at least a few times by major biological crises, such as the Permian–Triassic extinction event, which at least affected amniotes. As biodiversity has grown, so has the number of niches that tetrapods have occupied, the first tetrapods were aquatic and fed primarily on fish. Today, the Earth supports a diversity of tetrapods that live in many habitats. Tetrapods evolved from early bony fishes, specifically from the branch of lobe-finned fishes. The first tetrapods probably evolved in the Emsian stage of the Early Devonian from Tetrapodomorph fish living in water environments. The very earliest tetrapods would have been similar to Acanthostega, with legs and lungs as well as gills. The earliest tetrapods inhabited saltwater, brackish-water, and freshwater environments and these traits were shared with many early lobed-finned fishes
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Dimetrodon
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Dimetrodon is an extinct genus of synapsid that lived during the Cisuralian Permian, around 295–272 million years ago. It is a member of the family Sphenacodontidae, the most prominent feature of Dimetrodon is the large neural spine sail on its back formed by elongated spines extending from the vertebrae. It walked on four legs and had a tall, curved skull with teeth of different sizes set along the jaws. Most fossils have found in the southwestern United States, the majority coming from a geological deposit called the Red Beds of Texas. More recently, fossils have found in Germany. Over a dozen species have been named since the genus was first described in 1878, Dimetrodon is often mistaken for a dinosaur or as a contemporary of dinosaurs in popular culture, but it became extinct some 40 million years before the first appearance of dinosaurs. Reptile-like in appearance and physiology, Dimetrodon is nevertheless more closely related to mammals than to modern reptiles, Dimetrodon is assigned to the stem-mammals or non-mammalian synapsids, a group traditionally called mammal-like reptiles. This groups Dimetrodon together with mammals in a clade called Synapsida, while placing dinosaurs, reptiles and birds in a separate clade, Sauropsida. Single openings in the skull behind each eye, known as temporal fenestrae, Dimetrodon was probably one of the apex predators of the Cisuralian ecosystems, feeding on fish and tetrapods, including reptiles and amphibians. Smaller Dimetrodon species may have had different ecological roles, the sail of Dimetrodon may have been used to stabilize its spine or to heat and cool its body as a form of thermoregulation. Some recent studies argue that the sail would have been ineffective at removing heat from the body, Dimetrodon was a quadrupedal, sail-backed synapsid. Most Dimetrodon species ranged in length from 1.7 to 4.6 metres and are estimated to have weighed between 28 and 250 kilograms. The largest known species of Dimetrodon is D. angelensis at 4.6 metres, although some Dimetrodon species could grow very large, many juvenile specimens are known. Features such as ridges on the inside of the nasal cavity, the skull of Dimetrodon is tall and compressed laterally, or side-to-side. The eye sockets are positioned high and far back in the skull, behind each eye socket is a single hole called an infratemporal fenestra. An additional hole in the skull, the fenestra, can be seen when viewed from above. The back of the skull is oriented at an upward angle. The upper margin of the skull slopes downward in an arc to the tip of the snout
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Diadectes
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Diadectes is an extinct genus of large, very reptile-like amphibians that lived during the early Permian period. Diadectes was one of the very first herbivorous tetrapods, and also one of the first fully terrestrial animals to attain large size. Diadectes was a heavily built animal,1.5 to 3 meters long, with a skull, heavy vertebrae and ribs, massive limb girdles and short. The nature of the limbs and vertebrae clearly indicate a terrestrial animal and it possesses some characteristics of reptilians and amphibians, combining a reptile-like skeleton with a more primitive, seymouriamorph-like skull. Diadectes has been classified as belonging to the group of the amniotes. Among its primitive features, Diadectes has a large otic notch with an ossified tympanum, at the same time its teeth show advanced specialisations for an herbivorous diet that are not found in any other type of early Permian animal. The eight front teeth are spatulate and peg-like, and served as incisors that were used to nip off mouthfuls of vegetation, the broad, blunt cheek teeth show extensive wear associated with occlusion, and would have functioned as molars, grinding up the food. It also had a secondary palate, which meant it could chew its food and breathe at the same time. These traits are likely related to the animals high-fiber herbivorous diet. Many of the details of the post-cranial skeleton are possibly related to carrying the substantial trunk. The phenomenon of related animals evolving similarly is known as convergent evolution, Diadectes was first named and described by the American paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope in 1878, based on part of a lower jaw from the Permian of Texas. Cope noted, Teeth with short and much compressed crowns, whose axis is transverse to that of the jaws. He described the animal as in all probability, herbivorous, copes Neo-Latin type species name sideropelicus of iron clay alluded to the Wichita beds in Texas, where the fossil was found. Diadectes fossil remains are known from a number of locations across North America, numerous species have been assigned to Diadectes, though most of those have proven to be synonyms of one another. Similarly, many supposed separate genera of diadectids have been shown to be synonyms of Diadectes. One of these, Nothodon, was published by Othniel Charles Marsh five days before the name Diadectes was published by his rival Edward Drinker Cope. A phylogenetic analysis of Diadectes and related diadectids was presented in an unpublished Ph. D. thesis by Richard Kissel in 2010. Previous phylogenetic analyses of diadectids had found D. absitus to be more basal than other species of Diadectes, in these analyses, Diasparactus zenos was more closely related to the other species of Diadectes than was D. absitus, making Diadectes paraphyletic
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Seymouriamorpha
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Seymouriamorpha were a small but widespread group of limbed vertebrates. They have long been considered reptiliomorphs, and most paleontologists may still accept this point of view, many seymouriamorphs were terrestrial or semi-aquatic. However, aquatic larvae bearing external gills and grooves from the lateral line system have been found and they ranged from lizard-sized creatures to crocodile-sized 150 centimeter long animals. If seymouriamorphs are reptiliomorphs, they were the distant relatives of amniotes, seymouriamorphs form into three main groups, Kotlassiidae, Discosauriscidae, and Seymouriidae, a group that includes the best known genus, Seymouria. The last seymouriamorph became extinct by the end of Permian. P, bulletin of the Geological Society of America, Washington,1944, v.55, N5, pp. 379-416. Seymouriamorpha - at Paleos Seymouriamorpha at Tree of Life Web Project
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Seymouria
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Seymouria was a reptile-like tetrapod from the early Permian of North America and Europe. It was small, only 2 ft long, Seymouria was well adapted to life on land, with many reptilian features—so many, in fact, that it was first thought to be a primitive reptile. It had long and muscular legs, and may have had dry skin and it may have been able to excrete excess salt from its blood through a gland in its nose, like modern reptiles. All of this meant that Seymouria, unlike amphibians and other early tetrapods, if so, this would have allowed it to move about the landscape in search of insects, small amphibians, and other possible prey, such as the eggs of reptiles and synapsids. Male Seymouria had thick skulls that may have used to batter rivals in mating contests. After mating, the females would have had to return to water to lay their eggs, as in amphibians, the larvae would develop in water, hunting for worms and insects until they were strong enough to live on land. Fossils of Seymouria were first found in Seymour, Baylor County, over the years, many well preserved fossils have been found in North America and Germany, including the Tambach Lovers, two individuals of S. sanjuanensis fossilized lying next to each other. Seymouria agilis that is known only one specimen, a nearly complete skeleton from the Chickasha Formation of Oklahoma, was reassigned by Michel Laurin. A Redescription of the Cranial Anatomy of Seymouria baylorensis, the best known Seymouriamorph PaleoBios,17, 1-16 Illustrated discussion of Seymouria from the Tree of Life Project
26.
1890 United States Census
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The Eleventh United States Census was taken beginning June 2,1890. The data was tabulated by machine for the first time, the data reported that the distribution of the population had resulted in the disappearance of the American frontier. Data was entered on a machine readable medium, punched cards, the total population of 62,947,714, the family, or rough, count, was announced after only six weeks of processing. The public reaction to this tabulation was disbelief, as it was believed that the right answer was at least 75,000,000. The United States census of 1890 showed a total of 248,253 Native Americans living in America, down from 400,764 Native Americans identified in the census of 1850. The 1890 census announced that the region of the United States no longer existed. Up to and including the 1880 census, the country had a frontier of settlement, by 1890, isolated bodies of settlement had broken into the unsettled area to the extent that there was hardly a frontier line. This prompted Frederick Jackson Turner to develop his Frontier Thesis, the original data for the 1890 Census is no longer available. Almost all the schedules were damaged in a fire in the basement of the Commerce Building in Washington. Some 25% of the materials were presumed destroyed and another 50% damaged by smoke, the damage to the records led to an outcry for a permanent National Archives. The Librarian was asked by the Bureau to identify any records which should be retained for historical purposes, congress authorized destruction of that list of records on February 21,1933, and the surviving original 1890 census records were destroyed by government order by 1934 or 1935. The other censuses for which information has been lost are the 1800 and 1810 enumerations. Mayo-Smith, Richmond, The Eleventh Census of the United States
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1910 United States Census
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The 1910 Census switched from a portrait page orientation to a landscape orientation. The column titles in the form are as follows, LOCATION. Number of dwelling house in order of visitation, Number of family in order of visitation. NAME of each person whose place of abode on April 15,1910, was in this family, enter surname first, then the given name and middle initial, if any. Include every person living on April 15,1910, omit children born since April 15,1910. Relationship of this person to the head of the family, whether single, married, widowed, or divorced. Number of years of present marriage, Mother of how many children, Number born. Mother of how children, Number now living. Place of birth of each person and parents of each person enumerated, if born in the United States, give the state or territory. If of foreign birth, give the country, place of birth of this Person. Place of birth of Father of this person, place of birth of Mother of this person. Year of immigration to the United States, whether able to speak English, or, if not, give language spoken. Trade or profession of, or particular kind of work done by person, as spinner, salesman, laborer. General nature of industry, business, or establishment in which this works, as cotton mill, dry goods store, farm. Whether as employer, employee, or work on own account, whether out of work on April 15,1910. Number of weeks out of work during year 1909, attended school any time since September 1,1909. Whether a survivor of the Union or Confederate Army or Navy, special Notation, In 1912, New Mexico and Arizona would become the 47th and 48th states admitted to the Union. The 1910 population count for each of these areas was 327,301 and 204,354 respectively
28.
1920 United States Census
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In 1929, Congress passed the Reapportionment Act of 1929 which provided for a permanent method of reapportionment and fixed the number of Representatives at 435. The original census enumeration sheets were microfilmed by the Census Bureau in the 1940s, the microfilmed census is available in rolls from the National Archives and Records Administration. Several organizations also host images of the census online. Microdata from the 1920 census are available through the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series. Aggregate data for small areas, together with electronic boundary files,1921 U. S Census Report Contains 1920 Census results Historic US Census data 1920 Census,1920 United States Census for Genealogy & Family History Research 1920 Census
29.
1930 United States Census
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The original census enumeration sheets were microfilmed by the Census Bureau in 1949, after which the original sheets were destroyed. The microfilmed census is located on 2,667 rolls of microfilm, several organizations also host images of the microfilmed census online, and 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
30.
1940 United States Census
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The census date of record was April 1,1940. A number of new questions were asked including where people were 5 years before, highest educational grade achieved and this census introduced sampling techniques, one in 20 people were asked additional questions on the census form. Other innovations included a field test of the census in 1939, the 1940 census collected the following information, In addition, a sample of individuals were asked additional questions covering age at first marriage, fertility, and other topics. Full documentation on the 1940 census, including forms and a procedural history, is available from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series. Following completion of the census, the original sheets were microfilmed. As required by Title 13 of the U. S. Code, non-personally identifiable information Microdata from the 1940 census is freely available through the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series. Also, aggregate data for small areas, together with electronic boundary files, on April 2, 2012—72 years after the census was taken—microfilmed images of the 1940 census enumeration sheets were released to the public by the National Archives and Records Administration. The records are indexed only by enumeration district upon initial release, several organizations are compiling indices, why the huge interest in the 1940 Census. 1940 Census Questions Hosted at CensusFinder. com
31.
1950 United States Census
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Full documentation on the 1950 census, including census forms and a procedural history, is available from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series. Microdata from the 1950 census are available through the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series. Aggregate data for small areas, together with electronic boundary files, personally identifiable information will be available in 2022. Historic US Census data 1951 U. S Census Report Contains 1950 Census results
32.
1970 United States Census
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Microdata from the 1970 census are freely available through the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series. Aggregate data for small areas, together with electronic boundary files and these data were originally created and disseminated by DUALabs. Personally identifiable information will be available in 2042, california took over as the most populous state, New York had previously been ranked number one. While the entire country increased to more than 204 million persons, four states lost population with West Virginia leading the list, down 8, historic US Census data 1971 U. S Census Report, with estimated 1970 Census results 1970 Census of Population
33.
1980 United States Census
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Approximately 16 percent of households received a long form of the 1980 census, which contained over 100 questions. Full documentation on the 1980 census, including forms and a procedural history, is available from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series. Microdata from the 1980 census are available through the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series. Aggregate data for small areas, together with electronic boundary files, personally identifiable information will be available in 2052. Between the 1980 census and the 1990 census, the United States population increased by approximately 22,164,837 or 9. 8%, historic US Census data 1981 U. S Census Report Contains 1980 Census results
34.
1990 United States Census
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Approximately 16 percent of households received a long form of the 1990 census, which contained over 100 questions. Full documentation on the 1990 census, including forms and a procedural history, is available from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series. It was the first census to designate Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander as a group separate from Asians. To increase black participation in the 1990 United States Census, the bureau recruited Bill Cosby, Magic Johnson, Alfre Woodard, the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series. Aggregate data for small areas, together with electronic boundary files, personally identifiable information will be available in 2062. The results of the 1990 census determined the number of seats that each state receives in the United States House of Representatives starting with the 1992 elections, consequently, this affected the number of votes each state has in the Electoral College for the 1992 presidential election. Because of population changes, twenty-one states had changes in their number of seats, eight states gained at least one seat, and thirteen states lost at least one seat. The final result involved 19 seats being switched
35.
2000 United States Census
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This was the twenty-second federal census and was at the time the largest civilly administered peacetime effort in the United States. Approximately 16 percent of households received a form of the 2000 census. Full documentation on the 2000 census, including forms and a procedural history, is available from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series. Microdata from the 2000 census is available through the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series. Aggregate data for small areas, together with electronic boundary files, personally identifiable information will be available in 2072. The U. S. resident population includes the number of people in the 50 states. The Bureau also enumerated the residents of the U. S. territory of Puerto Rico, its population was 3,808,610, the 2000 Census was the first time survey options for multiracial Americans were provided. S. Households had access to computers, 42% have Internet access, regionally, the South and West experienced the bulk of the nations population increase,14,790,890 and 10,411,850, respectively. This meant that the center of U. S. population moved to Phelps County. The Northeast grew by 2,785,149, the Midwest by 4,724,144, the results of the census are used to determine how many congressional districts each state is apportioned. Congress defines the formula, in accordance with Title 2 of the U. S. Code, each member of the House represents a population of about 647,000. The populations of the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are excluded from the apportionment population because they do not have voting seats in the U. S, since the first census in 1790, the decennial count has been the basis for the United States representative form of government. Article I, Section II specifies that The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, in 1790, each member of the House represented about 34,000 residents. Since then, the House more than quadrupled in size, today, each member represents about 20 times as many constituents. This recommendation was followed by the Secretary of Commerce, after the census was tabulated, Utah challenged the results in two different ways. Utah was extremely close to gaining a fourth seat, falling 857 people short. The margin was later shortened to 80 people, after the government discovered that it overcounted the population of North Carolina by 2,673 residents. Utah claimed that individuals traveling abroad as religious missionaries should be counted as residents, almost half of all Mormon missionaries, more than 11,000 individuals, were from Utah, only 102 came from North Carolina
