Decatur, Texas | |
---|---|
Nickname: Little D | |
Coordinates: 33°13′40″N97°35′04″W / 33.22778°N 97.58444°W | |
Country | United States |
State | Texas |
County | Wise |
Area | |
• Total | 8.78 sq mi (22.75 km2) |
• Land | 8.78 sq mi (22.75 km2) |
• Water | 0.00 sq mi (0.00 km2) |
Elevation | 1,004 ft (306 m) |
Population (2020) [3] | |
• Total | 6,538 |
• Density | 740/sq mi (290/km2) |
Time zone | UTC-6 (Central (CST)) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
ZIP code | 76234 |
Area code | 940 |
FIPS code | 48-19528 [4] |
GNIS feature ID | 2410307 [2] |
Website | http://www.decaturtx.org/ |
Decatur is the county seat of Wise County, Texas, United States. [5] Its population was 6,538 in 2020. [6]
Wise County was established in 1856, and Taylorsville (in honor of Zachary Taylor) was made the county seat.
Absalom Bishop, an early settler and member of the Texas Legislature, opposed naming the town after a Whig Party member, and in 1858, arranged to have the name changed to Decatur, in honor of naval hero Stephen Decatur.
In 1857, a post office was opened, and the first school was established in 1857. In the early 1860s, a courthouse was erected. [7]
Early settlers to northern Texas came from a variety of eastern states, with about half coming from the "Deep South". Most of the rest came from the Upper South, and a number sympathized with the Unionist side at the outset of the Civil War. Cooke County and others voted against secession in this part of the state. Violence against Unionists by Confederate troops and militia was common, especially after the Confederate legislature passed an unpopular conscription law.
In October 1862, several Unionist sympathizers from Decatur were arrested by Confederate troops and taken to nearby Gainesville, the Cooke County seat, for trial on charges of treason and insurrection. About 150–200 suspects were arrested by Confederate troops. A "Citizens Court" was pulled together by local colonels, although it had no standing in state law. It quickly convicted seven men, who were executed by hanging. Mob pressure against the court arose, and it turned over 14 suspects, who were lynched - and executed by hanging without any judicial process. Nineteen men who had been acquitted were returned to the court, and a new jury convicted them without any new evidence, sentencing them to death. They were also hanged. Another two men were shot trying to escape. In all, 42 men were killed in Gainesville in these actions. [8] [9]
North Texas was in chaos, with dissenting citizens at risk from military forces. A few weeks later, more suspected Unionist supporters were hanged without trial in several North Texas communities. Five were lynched in Decatur, under the supervision of Confederate Capt. John Hale. [10] The Great Hanging at Gainesville is believed to have been the largest single incident of vigilante violence in U.S. history. [8] [9]
By the late 1860s, several stores and a hotel had been established. In 1882, the Fort Worth and Denver Railway reached the town, [7] and Decatur was added to the Butterfield Overland mail route.
In 1881, the Wise County Old Settlers Reunion held their first meeting. This has become an annual tradition in Decatur, and the reunion continues to take place during the last full week of July.
Decatur Baptist College (now Dallas Baptist University) was established in Decatur in 1898. It was the first two-year institution of higher education in Texas. In 1965, the college moved to Dallas to be in a larger population center. The former Administration Building then housed the Wise County Heritage Museum. The building was destroyed in a fire in 2023. [11] It is one of five sites in Decatur listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Wise County Courthouse was designed by James Riely Gordon, the master architect of Texas courthouses. Completed in 1896, the building is an example of Gordon's Signature Plan. He used corner entrances (making for short halls) to draw in the breeze, which was pulled up through a central atrium like a chimney, providing excellent air circulation. The exterior is Texas red granite (like the Capitol) with terra cotta ornamentation. The almost pyramidal mass refers to 1,000-year-old churches in the south of France. The building has been praised, with its "sister" courthouse in Waxahachie, as "the zenith of Gordon's Richardsonian Romanesque work". [12] It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Another historic building found on the east side of the city is the Texas Tourist Camp, dating back to 1927. [13]
In 1962, Eddie Wayne Hill, lead guitarist for Tommy & the Tom Toms, and drummer Joel Colbert, were killed when their convertible collided head-on with a gravel truck on State Highway 114 south of Decatur. Country singer Charley Pride was more fortunate, surviving a mid-air crash with another plane over Decatur in 1980, though two people died in the crash. [14]
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 8.5 square miles (22 km2), all land. [15] The highest point of elevation in the county is the courthouse site. As with ancient hill towns in Europe, the frontier settlement was developed on high ground for defensive purposes, so European settlers could see and ward off attacks or raids, in this case by Native Americans.
The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the Köppen climate classification, Decatur has a humid subtropical climate, Cfa on climate maps. [16]
Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
---|---|---|---|
1880 | 579 | — | |
1890 | 1,746 | 201.6% | |
1900 | 1,562 | −10.5% | |
1910 | 1,651 | 5.7% | |
1920 | 2,205 | 33.6% | |
1930 | 2,037 | −7.6% | |
1940 | 2,578 | 26.6% | |
1950 | 2,922 | 13.3% | |
1960 | 3,563 | 21.9% | |
1970 | 3,240 | −9.1% | |
1980 | 4,104 | 26.7% | |
1990 | 4,252 | 3.6% | |
2000 | 5,201 | 22.3% | |
2010 | 6,042 | 16.2% | |
2020 | 6,538 | 8.2% | |
U.S. Decennial Census [17] |
Race | Number | Percentage |
---|---|---|
White (NH) | 4,200 | 64.24% |
Black or African American (NH) | 61 | 0.93% |
Native American or Alaska Native (NH) | 26 | 0.4% |
Asian (NH) | 79 | 1.21% |
Some Other Race (NH) | 14 | 0.21% |
Mixed/Multi-Racial (NH) | 206 | 3.15% |
Hispanic or Latino | 1,952 | 29.86% |
Total | 6,538 |
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 6,538 people, 2,507 households, and 1,753 families residing in the city.
In August 2008, Entegris acquired Poco Graphite, Inc. of Decatur, a supplier of specialized graphite and silicon carbide products for use in semiconductor, EDM, glass-bottling, biomedical, aerospace, and alternative-energy applications.
Decatur has a library.
The Service Broadcasting Tower Decatur, [20] [21] a guyed TV-mast, belongs to world's tallest constructions.[ citation needed ]
The Wise County Messenger has been printed in Decatur since 1880. [22]
The City of Decatur is served by the Decatur Independent School District (DISD), the largest district in Wise County. Decatur ISD is centered in Decatur and has six campuses: Decatur High School, McCarroll Middle School, Carson Elementary School, Rann Elementary School, and Young Elementary. During the 2010–2011 school year, Decatur ISD had 3,011 students enrolled. [23]
Weatherford College has a branch campus in Decatur.
Lifeteam 68, of the Air Evac Lifeteam air ambulance company, is based at Wise Regional Hospital in Decatur. [24]
Wise County is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 68,632. Its county seat is Decatur. Wise County is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area. Its Wise Eyes crime-watch program, eventually adopted by mostly rural counties in several states, was started in 1993 by then-Sheriff Phil Ryan.
McCulloch County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. At the 2020 census, its population was 7,630. Its county seat is Brady. The county was created in 1856 and later organized in 1876. It is named for Benjamin McCulloch, a famous Texas Ranger and Confederate general.
Gregg County is a county located in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 124,239. Its county seat is Longview. The county is named after John Gregg, a Confederate general killed in action during the American Civil War.
Grayson County is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 135,543. The county seat is Sherman. The county was founded in 1846 and is named after Peter Wagener Grayson, an attorney general of the Republic of Texas. Grayson County is included in the Sherman-Denison metropolitan statistical area, which is also included in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, combined statistical area. Located on the state's border with Oklahoma, it is part of the Texoma region, with proximity to Lake Texoma and the Red River.
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Gainesville is a city in and the county seat of Cooke County, Texas, United States. Its population was 17,394 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Texoma region and is an important Agri-business center.
Sherman is a city in and the county seat of Grayson County, Texas, United States. The city's population in 2020 was 43,645. It is one of the two principal cities in the Sherman–Denison metropolitan statistical area, and is the largest city in the Texoma region of North Texas and southern Oklahoma.
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James Webb Throckmorton was an American politician who served as the 12th governor of Texas from 1866 to 1867 during the early days of Reconstruction. He was a United States Congressman from Texas from 1875 to 1879 and again from 1883 to 1889.
The Great Hanging at Gainesville was the execution by hanging of 41 suspected Unionists in Gainesville, Texas, in October 1862 during the American Civil War. Confederate troops shot two additional suspects trying to escape. Confederate troops captured and arrested some 150–200 men in and near Cooke County at a time when numerous North Texas citizens opposed the new law on conscription. Many suspects were tried by a "Citizens' Court" organized by a Confederate military officer. It made up its own rules for conviction and had no status under state law. Although only 11% of county households enslaved people, seven of the 12 men on the jury were enslavers.