Garza County, Texas

Garza County, Texas
Garza County Courthouse in Post
Location in the U.S. state of Texas
Texas's location in the U.S.
Founded	1907
Seat	Post
Largest city	Post
Area
• Total	896 sq mi (2,321 km2)
• Land	893 sq mi (2,313 km2)
• Water	2.8 sq mi (7 km2), 0.3%
Population
• (2010)	6,461
• Density	7.2/sq mi (3/km²)
Congressional district	19th
Time zone	Central: UTC-6/-5
Website	www.garzacounty.net/index.html

Post Dispatch newspaper covers local events of Garza County.

Wells Fargo Bank serves Garza County through its outlet in Post.

Garza County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, its population was 6,461.^[1] Its county seat is Post.^[2] The county was created in 1876 and later organized in 1907.^[3] Garza is named for a pioneer Bexar County family, as it was once a part of that county. It is located southeast of Lubbock.

A leading civic figure in Garza County was until his death in 2011 Giles McCrary, a rancher, oil developer, investor, and art collector. McCrary's OS Ranch Museum is a popular attraction in the county seat of Post, which has made an extended effort to attract tourism.

Republican Drew Springer, Jr., a businessman from Muenster in Cooke County, has since January 2013 represented Garza County in the Texas House of Representatives.^[4]

History timeline

• 2000 b.c. – Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the first inhabitants. Later inhabitants were the Kiowa, Comanche.^[5]
• 1875 W. C. Young of Fort Worth and Illinois Irishman Ben Galbraith establish the beginnings of the Curry Comb Ranch in the northwest part of Garza County.^[6]
• 1876 Garza County is formed from Bexar County, and named for the prominent Bexar County family of José Antonio de la Garza.^[7][8]
• 1880 County census count is 36 people.^[5]
• 1882 The Square and Compass Ranch is started by the Nave and McCord Cattle Company. They put up the first barbed wire fence two years later.^[9]
• 1884 OS Ranch is founded by brothers Andrew J. Long and Frank M. Long of Lexington, Kentucky.^[10]
• 1900 County population is 185 persons.^[5]
• 1907 Post is founded as a utopian venture by, and named for, cereal king Charles William Post.^[5][11]
• 1909-1913 C.W. Post builds a cotton gin, a cotton mill, and attempts to improve agriculture production through rainmaking, involving the heavy use of explosives fired from kites and towers along the rim of the Caprock Escarpment.^[5][12]
• 1926 Oil is discovered in the county.^[5][13]
• 1934 Quanah and Bryan Maxey discover a sixteen-foot-long tusk of a prehistoric imperial mammoth. This tusk is currently located in the American Museum of Natural History, New York City, NY.^[5]
• 1957 A Prehistoric Indian site at Cowhead Mesa is recorded by Emmet Shedd of Post.^[14]
• 1960-1965 South Plains Archaeological Society excavations of Cowhead Mesa find artifacts to date inhabitation back to 2000 b.c.^[14]
• 1980 The most important business in the county are agribusiness, oil and gas extraction, and textile mills.^[5]

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 896 square miles (2,320 km²), of which 893 square miles (2,310 km²) is land and 2.8 square miles (7.3 km²) (0.3%) is water.^[15]

Major roads and highways

• U.S. Highway 84
• U.S. Highway 380
• State Highway 207
• Farm to Market Road 669

Adjacent counties

• Crosby County (north)
• Kent County (east)
• Scurry County (southeast)
• Borden County (south)
• Lynn County (west)
• Lubbock County (northwest)
• Dickens County (northeast)

Demographics

As of the census^[19] of 2000, there were 4,872 people, 1,663 households, and 1,217 families residing in the county. The population density was 5 people per square mile (2/km²). There were 1,928 housing units at an average density of 2 per square mile (1/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 56.7% White (European and non-Hispanic), 4.8 Black or African American, 0.2% Native American, 0.1% Asian, 0.0% Pacific Islander, 37.2% of the population were Hispanic or Latino. 17.1 other races, and 3.00% from two or more races.

There were 1,663 households out of which 36.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.50% were married couples living together, 11.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.80% were non-families. 23.80% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.00% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.65 and the average family size was 3.15.

In the county, the population was spread out with 28.00% under the age of 18, 7.90% from 18 to 24, 28.60% from 25 to 44, 21.30% from 45 to 64, and 14.10% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 112.30 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 111.30 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $27,206, and the median income for a family was $31,173. Males had a median income of $26,604 versus $18,105 for females. The per capita income for the county was $12,704. About 17.50% of families and 22.30% of the population were below the poverty line, including 29.60% of those under age 18 and 18.60% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

City

• Post (county seat)

Unincorporated communities

• Close City
• Justiceburg
• Southland

See also

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Garza County, Texas.

• Garza County government's website
• Photos of West Texas and the Llano Estacado
• Garza County from the Handbook of Texas Online
• Garza County Profile from the Texas Association of Counties

		Crosby County
	Lynn County		Kent County
		Garza County, Texas
		Borden County	Scurry County

Municipalities and communities of Garza County, Texas, United States
County seat: Post
City	Post
Unincorporated communities	Close City Justiceburg Southland

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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Coordinates: 33°11′N 101°18′W / 33.18°N 101.30°W / 33.18; -101.30