Crosby County, Texas

Crosby County, Texas
Crosby County Courthouse in Crosbyton
Location in the U.S. state of Texas
Texas's location in the U.S.
Founded	1886
Seat	Crosbyton
Largest city	Crosbyton
Area
• Total	902 sq mi (2,336 km2)
• Land	900 sq mi (2,331 km2)
• Water	1.5 sq mi (4 km2), 0.2%
Population
• (2010)	6,059
• Density	6.7/sq mi (3/km²)
Congressional district	19th
Time zone	Central: UTC-6/-5
Website	www.co.crosby.tx.us

Crosby County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, its population was 6,059.^[1] The county seat is Crosbyton.^[2] The county was founded in 1876 and later organized in 1886.^[3] Both the county and its seat are named for Stephen Crosby, a land commissioner in Texas.

Crosby County, along with Lubbock County, and Lynn County, is part of the Lubbock Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The Lubbock MSA and Levelland Micropolitan Statistical Area (µSA), encompassing only Hockley County, form the larger Lubbock–Levelland Combined Statistical Area (CSA).

Until the passage of a referendum to permit liquor sales, held on May 11, 2013, Crosby County had been one of nineteen remaining prohibition or entirely dry counties within Texas.^[4] That same day voters in Denver City and Yoakum County also approved separate referenda to permit liquor sales. The number of prohibition counties in Texas has hence dropped to seventeen.^[5] Part of the large Matador Ranch of West Texas extends into the county.^[6] Republican Drew Springer, Jr., a businessman from Muenster in Cooke County, has since January 2013 represented Crosby County in the Texas House of Representatives.^[7]

History

• 11000 b.c. Paleo-Indians first inhabitants. Archeological artifacts indicate Hunter-gatherers who hunted the Mammoth, Mastodon, Saber-Toothed Tiger, and Giant Ground Sloth. Later Native American inhabitants include the Comanche.^[8]
• 1871 Ranald S. Mackenzie fights Quanah Parker and other Comanches at the Battle of Blanco Canyon. The campaign establishes the Mackenzie Trail used by the first settlers in Crosby County in the late 1870s.^[9]
• 1876 The Texas legislature forms Crosby County from Young and Bexar districts.^[8]
• 1878 Bavaria-born Heinrich Schmidtt, aka Henry “Hank” Clay Smith, and his wife Elizabeth Boyle and their six children, become the first permanent settlers in the area, where Hank is active in the county’s organization.^[10][11][12]
• 1879 Confederate veteran Paris Cox first visits the Caprock Escarpment of the Llano Estacado with a group of buffalo hunters.^[13]
• 1886 Estacado is named the county seat.^[14]
• 1900 The beef industry thrives, supporting a count of 30,618 head.^[8]
• 1908 The Bar-N-Bar Ranch begins selling acreage to farmers.^[8]
• 1910 Crosbyton becomes the new county seat.^[15]
• 1920 Some 45,400 acres (184 km²) in the county are planted in cotton. 15.000 apple and peach trees grow in the county.^[8]
• 1929 Farmers own 83,000 chickens, and sell 395,000 dozen eggs.^[8]
• 1941 The first soil-conservation district in the county is formed.^[8]
• 1955 Oil is discovered in the county.^[8]

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 902 square miles (2,340 km²), of which 900 square miles (2,300 km²) is land and 1.5 square miles (3.9 km²) (0.2%) is water.^[16]

Major highways

• U.S. Highway 62
• U.S. Highway 82/State Highway 114
• State Highway 207

Adjacent counties

• Floyd County (north)
• Dickens County (east)
• Garza County (south)
• Lubbock County (west)

Geographic features

• Blanco Canyon
• White River, Silver Falls
• Mount Blanco
• Caprock Escarpment

Demographics

As of the census^[20] of 2000, there were 7,072 people, 2,512 households, and 1,866 families residing in the county. The population density was 8 people per square mile (3/km²). There were 3,202 housing units at an average density of 4 per square mile (1/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 63.77% White, 3.89% Black or African American, 0.54% Native American, 0.03% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 29.89% from other races, and 1.81% from two or more races. 48.93% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 2,512 households out of which 35.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.0% were married couples living together, 11.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.7% were non-families. 23.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.78 and the average family size was 3.30.

In the county, the population was spread out with 30.7% under the age of 18, 8.5% from 18 to 24, 24.0% from 25 to 44, 21.1% from 45 to 64, and 15.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 91.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.2 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $25,769, and the median income for a family was $29,891. Males had a median income of $23,775 versus $17,229 for females. The per capita income for the county was $14,445. About 22.6% of families and 28.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 36.6% of those under age 18 and 22.7% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

Cities

• Crosbyton
• Lorenzo
• Ralls

Unincorporated communities

• Cone
• Kalgary

Ghost towns

• Canyon Valley
• Estacado (partly in Lubbock County)

Gallery

• 

  Mount Blanco

• 

  Blanco Canyon

• 

  Caprock Escarpment south of Ralls

See also

References

External links

• Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum
• Crosby County government’s website
• Crosby County, Texas from the Handbook of Texas Online
• Crosby County Profile from the Texas Association of Counties
• Photos of the Llano Estacado

		Floyd County
	Lubbock County		Dickens County
		Crosby County, Texas
		Garza County

Municipalities and communities of Crosby County, Texas, United States
County seat: Crosbyton
Cities	Crosbyton Lorenzo Ralls
Unincorporated communities	Cone Kalgary
Ghost towns	Canyon Valley Emma Estacado‡
Footnotes	‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties

Counties of Texas
Anderson Andrews Angelina Aransas Archer Armstrong Atascosa Austin Bailey Bandera Bastrop Baylor Bee Bell Bexar Blanco Borden Bosque Bowie Brazoria Brazos Brewster Briscoe Brooks Brown Burleson Burnet Caldwell Calhoun Callahan Cameron Camp Carson Cass Castro Chambers Cherokee Childress Clay Cochran Coke Coleman Collin Collingsworth Colorado Comal Comanche Concho Cooke Coryell Cottle Crane Crockett Crosby Culberson Dallam Dallas Dawson Deaf Smith Delta Denton DeWitt Dickens Dimmit Donley Duval Eastland Ector Edwards El Paso Ellis Erath Falls Fannin Fayette Fisher Floyd Foard Fort Bend Franklin Freestone Frio Gaines Galveston Garza Gillespie Glasscock Goliad Gonzales Gray Grayson Gregg Grimes Guadalupe Hale Hall Hamilton Hansford Hardeman Hardin Harris Harrison Hartley Haskell Hays Hemphill Henderson Hidalgo Hill Hockley Hood Hopkins Houston Howard Hudspeth Hunt Hutchinson Irion Jack Jackson Jasper Jeff Davis Jefferson Jim Hogg Jim Wells Johnson Jones Karnes Kaufman Kendall Kenedy Kent Kerr Kimble King Kinney Kleberg Knox La Salle Lamar Lamb Lampasas Lavaca Lee Leon Liberty Limestone Lipscomb Live Oak Llano Loving Lubbock Lynn Madison Marion Martin Mason Matagorda Maverick McCulloch McLennan McMullen Medina Menard Midland Milam Mills Mitchell Montague Montgomery Moore Morris Motley Nacogdoches Navarro Newton Nolan Nueces Ochiltree Oldham Orange Palo Pinto Panola Parker Parmer Pecos Polk Potter Presidio Rains Randall Reagan Real Red River Reeves Refugio Roberts Robertson Rockwall Runnels Rusk Sabine San Augustine San Jacinto San Patricio San Saba Schleicher Scurry Shackelford Shelby Sherman Smith Somervell Starr Stephens Sterling Stonewall Sutton Swisher Tarrant Taylor Terrell Terry Throckmorton Titus Tom Green Travis Trinity Tyler Upshur Upton Uvalde Val Verde Van Zandt Victoria Walker Waller Ward Washington Webb Wharton Wheeler Wichita Wilbarger Willacy Williamson Wilson Winkler Wise Wood Yoakum Young Zapata Zavala

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Counties	See: List of counties in Texas

Coordinates: 33°37′N 101°18′W / 33.61°N 101.30°W / 33.61; -101.30