Guadalupe County, Texas

Guadalupe County, Texas

The Guadalupe County Courthouse in Seguin
Map of Texas highlighting Guadalupe County
Location in the U.S. state of Texas
Map of the United States highlighting Texas
Texas's location in the U.S.
Founded 1846
Named for Guadalupe River
Seat Seguin
Largest city Schertz
Area
 • Total 715 sq mi (1,852 km2)
 • Land 711 sq mi (1,841 km2)
 • Water 3.5 sq mi (9 km2), 0.5%
Population
 • (2010) 131,533
 • Density 185/sq mi (71/km²)
Congressional district 15th
Time zone Central: UTC-6/-5
Website www.co.guadalupe.tx.us
Separate from the courthouse is the Guadalupe County Justice Center on West Court Street
Guadalupe County Veterans Memorial

Guadalupe County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, its population was 131,533.[1] The county seat is Seguin.[2] The county was founded in 1846 and is named for the Guadalupe River.

Guadalupe County is part of the San Antonio, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

Indigenous paleo-Indian hunter-gatherers were the first inhabitants of the area, thousands of years before European colonization. Later historic Indian tribes settled in the area, including Tonkawa, Karankawa, Kickapoo, Lipan Apache, and Comanche.[3]

In 1689, Alonso de Leon named the Guadalupe River for Spain in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

In 1806, French army officer José de la Baume, who later joined the Spanish army, was rewarded for his services to Spain with title to 27,000 acres (110 km2) of Texas land, the original El Capote Ranch. The grant was reaffirmed by the Republic of Mexico after it achieved independence.[4]

Following Mexico's independence from Spain, Anglo-Americans from the United States settled in Texas in 1821 and claimed Mexican citizenship. In 1825, Guadalupe County was part of Green DeWitt's petition for a land grant to establish a colony in Texas, which was approved by the Mexican government. From 1827 to 1835, twenty-two families settled the area as part of DeWitt's colony.[3]

Following Texas' gaining independence from Mexico (1836), 33 Gonzales Rangers and Republic veterans established Seguin. Founded as Walnut Springs in 1838, the settlement's name was changed to Seguin the next year to honor Juan Nepomuceno Seguín, who had fought for independence.[5]

In 1840, the Virginian Michael Erskine acquired the El Capote Ranch[6] for use as a cattle ranch. In 1842, the Republic of Texas organized Guadalupe County as a judicial county. The Texas Supreme Court declared judicial counties to be unconstitutional. In 1845, Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels secured title to 1,265 acres (5.12 km2) of the Veramendi grant in the northern part of the former judicial county.[3]

Following the annexation of Texas by the United States (1845), the Prussian immigrant August Wilhelm Schumann arrived on the Texas coast aboard the SS Franziska in 1846 and purchased 188 acres (0.76 km2) in Guadalupe County. Shortly thereafter, the state legislature established the present county from parts of Bexar and Gonzales counties.[3]

In 1846, during the war between the United States and Mexico, a wagon train of German immigrant settlers bought Guadalupe land from August Schumann. The following year the town of Schumannsville was established by German immigrants and named after him.[3] Numerous German immigrants entered Texas at Galveston following the revolutions of 1848 in German states, settling in Guadalupe County and central Texas. After their own struggles, they tended to oppose slavery.

The last Indian raid into the area was made by the Kickapoo in 1855.[3]

By 1860, there were 1,748 slaves of African descent in the county, generally brought in from the South by slaveholder migrants. In 1861, the people of the county voted 314–22 in favor of secession from the Union. Guadalupe County sent several troops to fight for the Confederate States Army. Following the end of the Civil War and the emancipation of the slaves (1865), a Freedmen's Bureau office opened in 1866 in Seguin to supervise work contracts between former slaves and area farmers.[7] Together, German Americans and African Americans joined the Republican Party, leading Guadalupe County to be a reliably Republican one into the 20th century,[8] even after the state disfranchisement of African Americans in 1901 by imposition of a poll tax.[9]

By 1876, the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway reached Seguin. It was completed as far as San Antonio the following year.[10] By 1880, ethnic Germans accounted for 40 percent of the county population. Tenant farming and sharecropping accounted for the operation of 25 percent of the county's farms. By 1910, immigrants from Mexico accounted for 11½ percent of the country’s population.

In 1929, oil was discovered at the Darst Creek oilfield.[11] By 1930, tenant farming and sharecropping comprised 64 percent of the county's farms.

Over the next five decades, the economy changed markedly as the area became more urbanized and less dependent on agriculture. By 1982, professional and related services, manufacturing, and wholesale and retail trade involved nearly 60 percent of the work force in the area.[3]

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 715 square miles (1,850 km2), of which 711 square miles (1,840 km2) is land and 3.5 square miles (9.1 km2) (0.5%) is water.[12]

Major highways

Adjacent counties

Demographics

Historical population
Census Pop. %±
18501,511—
18605,444260.3%
18707,28233.8%
188012,20267.6%
189015,21724.7%
190021,38540.5%
191024,91316.5%
192027,71911.3%
193028,9254.4%
194025,596−11.5%
195025,392−0.8%
196029,01714.3%
197033,55415.6%
198046,70839.2%
199064,87338.9%
200089,02337.2%
2010131,53347.8%
Est. 2015151,249[13]15.0%
U.S. Decennial Census[14]
1850–2010[15] 2010–2014[1]

As of the census[16] of 2000, there were 89,023 people, 30,900 households, and 23,823 families residing in the county. The population density was 125 people per square mile (48/km²). There were 33,585 housing units at an average density of 47 per square mile (18/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 77.65% White, 5.01% Black or African American, 0.55% Native American, 0.87% Asian, 0.10% Pacific Islander, 12.76% from other races, and 3.07% from two or more races. 33.21% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 30,900 households out of which 38.30% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.60% were married couples living together, 11.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.90% were non-families. 18.90% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.60% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.83 and the average family size was 3.23.

In the county, the population was spread out with 28.50% under the age of 18, 9.00% from 18 to 24, 29.10% from 25 to 44, 22.20% from 45 to 64, and 11.30% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 97.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.30 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $43,949, and the median income for a family was $49,645. Males had a median income of $32,450 versus $23,811 for females. The per capita income for the county was $18,430. About 7.30% of families and 9.80% of the population were below the poverty line, including 13.30% of those under age 18 and 9.50% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Unified school districts

Colleges and universities

Texas Lutheran University has about 1,400 students. It is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.[47] TLU was ranked #3 among the Best West Regional universities by U.S. News & World Report 2013.[48] Texas Lutheran is now a member of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference, NCAA Division III, with Austin College, Colorado College, Centenary College of Louisiana, Schreiner University, Southwestern University, Trinity University, and the University of Dallas.

Communities

Cities (multiple counties)

Cities

Census-designated places

Unincorporated communities

Ghost Town

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "State & County QuickFacts". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved December 16, 2013.
  2. ↑ "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Retrieved 2011-06-07.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Smyrl, Vivian Elizabeth. "Guadalupe County, Texas". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 13 December 2010.
  4. ↑ Texas Historical Marker, El Capote Ranch
  5. ↑ Gesick, John. "Seguin, Texas". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 13 December 2010.
  6. ↑ Perry, Ann; Smith, Deborah; Simons, Helen; Hoyt, Catheriine A (1996). A Guide to Hispanic Texas. University of Texas Press. p. 204. ISBN 978-0-292-77709-5.
  7. ↑ Harper Jr, Cecil. "Freedman's Bureau". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 13 December 2010.
  8. ↑ Kesselus, Ken (2002). Alvin Wirtz, The Senator, LBJ, and LCRA. Austin: Eakin Press. ISBN 1-57168-688-6.
  9. ↑ "Nixon v. Condon. Disfranchisement of the Negro in Texas", The Yale Law Journal, Vol. 41, No. 8, June 1932, p. 1212, accessed 21 March 2008
  10. ↑ Longhorn Chapter of the N.H.R.S. "Seguin and The Railroad". Texas transportation Museum, San Antonio. Retrieved 13 December 2010.
  11. ↑ Smith, Julie Cauble. "Darst Creek Oilfield". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 13 December 2010.
  12. ↑ "2010 Census Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. August 22, 2012. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
  13. ↑ "County Totals Dataset: Population, Population Change and Estimated Components of Population Change: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2015". Retrieved July 2, 2016.
  14. ↑ "U.S. Decennial Census". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
  15. ↑ "Texas Almanac: Population History of Counties from 1850–2010" (PDF). Texas Almanac. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
  16. ↑ "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2011-05-14.
 Comal County Hays County Caldwell County
  Guadalupe County, Texas  
Bexar County Wilson County Gonzales County

Coordinates: 29°35′N 97°57′W / 29.58°N 97.95°W / 29.58; -97.95

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/24/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.