Palo Pinto County | |
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![]() The Palo Pinto County Courthouse in Palo Pinto: The limestone structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1997. | |
![]() Location within the U.S. state of Texas | |
![]() Texas's location within the U.S. | |
Coordinates: 32°45′11″N98°18′47″W / 32.75318°N 98.31302°W | |
Country | ![]() |
State | ![]() |
Founded | 1857 |
Named for | Palo Pinto Creek |
Seat | Palo Pinto |
Largest city | Mineral Wells |
Area | |
• Total | 986 sq mi (2,550 km2) |
• Land | 952 sq mi (2,470 km2) |
• Water | 34 sq mi (90 km2) 3.4% |
Population (2020) | |
• Total | 28,409 |
• Density | 29/sq mi (11/km2) |
Time zone | UTC−6 (Central) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC−5 (CDT) |
Congressional district | 25th |
Website | www |
Palo Pinto County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 28,409. [1] The county seat is Palo Pinto. [2] The county was created in 1856 and organized the following year. [3]
Palo Pinto County comprises the Mineral Wells micropolitan statistical area, which is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth combined statistical area. It is located in the western Cross Timbers ecoregion.
The Brazos Indian Reservation, founded by General Randolph B. Marcy in 1854, provided a safety area from warring Comanche for Delaware, Shawnee, Tonkawa, Wichita, Choctaw, and Caddo. Within the reservation, each tribe had its own village and cultivated agricultural crops. Government-contracted beef cattle were delivered each week. Citizens were unable to distinguish between reservation and nonreservation tribes, blaming Comanche and Kiowa depredations on the reservation Indians. A newspaper in Jacksboro, Texas, titled The White Man advocated removal of all tribes from North Texas. [4] [5]
During December 1858, Choctaw Tom, who was a Yowani married to a Hasinai woman, who was at times an interpreter to Sam Houston, and a group of reservation Indians received permission for an off-the-reservation hunt. On December 27, Captain Peter Garland and a vigilante group charged Choctaw Tom's camp, indiscriminately murdering and injuring women and children along with the men. [6]
Governor Hardin Richard Runnels [7] ordered John Henry Brown [8] to the area with 100 troops. An examining trial was conducted about the Choctaw Tom raid, but no indictments resulted.
In May 1859, John Baylor [9] and a number of whites confronted United States troops at the reservation, demanding the surrender of certain tribal individuals. The military balked, and Baylor retreated, but in so doing killed an Indian woman and an old man. Baylor's group was later attacked by Indians off the reservation, where the military had no authority to intervene. At the behest of terrified settlers, the reservation was abandoned that year.
In 1856, the Texas State Legislature established Palo Pinto County from Bosque and Navarro Counties and named it for Palo Pinto Creek. The county was organized the next year, with the town of Golconda chosen to be the seat of government. The town was renamed Palo Pinto in 1858.
Ranching entrepreneurs Oliver Loving [10] and Charles Goodnight, [11] who blazed the Goodnight-Loving Trail, along with Reuben Vaughan, were the nucleus of the original settlers. An 1876 area rancher meeting regarding cattle rustling became the beginnings of what is now known as the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association.
The Fence Cutting Wars in Texas lasted about 5 years, 1883–1888. As farmers and ranchers began to compete for precious land and water, cattlemen found feeding their herds more difficult, prompting cowboys to cut through fences. Texas Governor John Ireland prodded a special assembly to order the fence cutters to cease. In response, the legislature made fence-cutting and pasture-burning crimes punishable with prison time, while at the same time regulating fencing. The practice abated with sporadic incidents of related violence in 1888. [12]
James and Amanda Lynch [13] first moved to the area in 1877. In digging a well on their property, they discovered the water seemed to benefit their well-being. Word spread about the water's healing powers, and people from all over came to experience the benefits. Eventually, the town of Mineral Wells [14] was platted.
Mineral Wells State Park and Trailway, [15] a short distance to east of the town of Mineral Wells in Palo Pinto County, was opened to the public in 1981; it lies in Parker County.
The Texas National Guard organized the 56th Cavalry Brigade in 1921, and four years later, Brigadier General Jacob F. Wolters [16] was given a grant to construct a training camp for the unit. In 1941, Camp Wolters was turned over to the United States Army. It was redesignated Wolters Air Force Base in 1951. Five years later, the base reverted to the Army as a helicopter training school. The base closed in 1973 when the helicopter school transferred to Fort Rucker (now Fort Novosel) in Alabama. [17]
Possum Kingdom Lake was acquired from the Brazos River Authority in 1940. The Civilian Conservation Corps constructed the facilities, and the Possum Kingdom State Park opened to the public in 1950. [18]
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 986 sq mi (2,550 km2), of which 34 sq mi (88 km2) (3.4%) are covered by water. [19]
Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
---|---|---|---|
1860 | 1,524 | — | |
1880 | 5,885 | — | |
1890 | 8,320 | 41.4% | |
1900 | 12,291 | 47.7% | |
1910 | 19,506 | 58.7% | |
1920 | 23,431 | 20.1% | |
1930 | 17,576 | −25.0% | |
1940 | 18,456 | 5.0% | |
1950 | 17,154 | −7.1% | |
1960 | 20,516 | 19.6% | |
1970 | 28,962 | 41.2% | |
1980 | 24,062 | −16.9% | |
1990 | 25,055 | 4.1% | |
2000 | 27,026 | 7.9% | |
2010 | 28,111 | 4.0% | |
2020 | 28,409 | 1.1% | |
U.S. Decennial Census [20] 1850–2010 [21] 2010 [22] 2020 [23] |
Race / Ethnicity | Pop 2010 [22] | Pop 2020 [23] | % 2010 | % 2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|
White alone (NH) | 21,958 | 20,778 | 78.11% | 73.14% |
Black or African American alone (NH) | 597 | 552 | 2.12% | 1.94% |
Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH) | 135 | 149 | 0.48% | 0.52% |
Asian alone (NH) | 132 | 211 | 0.47% | 0.74% |
Pacific Islander alone (NH) | 11 | 12 | 0.04% | 0.04% |
Some Other Race alone (NH) | 13 | 69 | 0.05% | 0.24% |
Mixed Race/Multi-Racial (NH) | 280 | 1,024 | 1.00% | 3.60% |
Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 4,985 | 5,614 | 17.73% | 19.76% |
Total | 28,111 | 28,409 | 100.00% | 100.00% |
Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race.
As of the census [24] of 2000, 27,026 people, 10,594 households, and 7,447 families were residing in the county. The population density was 28 people/sq mi (11 people/km2). The 14,102 housing units averaged 15 per square mile (5.8/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 88.19% White, 2.32% African American, 0.67% Native American, 0.53% Asian, 6.59% from other races, and 1.71% from two or more races. About 13.57% of the population were Hispanics or Latinos of any race.
Of the 10,594 households, 30.40% had children under 18 living with them, 55.60% were married couples living together, 10.40% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.70% were not families. About 26.20% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.90% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.52, and the average family size was 3.02. As of the 2010 census, 2.0 same-sex couples per 1,000 households were in the county. [25]
In the county, the age distribution was 26.0% under 18, 8.2% from 18 to 24, 25.9% from 25 to 44, 23.6% from 45 to 64, and 16.4% who were 65 or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.30 males.
The median income for a household was $31,203, and for a family was $36,977. Males had a median income of $28,526 versus $18,834 for females. The per capita income for the county was $15,454. About 12.30% of families and 15.90% of the population were below the poverty line, including 20.50% of those under age 18 and 11.80% of those age 65 or over.
Year | Republican | Democratic | Third party | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | |
2020 | 10,179 | 81.50% | 2,178 | 17.44% | 132 | 1.06% |
2016 | 8,284 | 80.66% | 1,708 | 16.63% | 278 | 2.71% |
2012 | 7,393 | 79.06% | 1,811 | 19.37% | 147 | 1.57% |
2008 | 7,264 | 73.45% | 2,499 | 25.27% | 127 | 1.28% |
2004 | 7,137 | 71.27% | 2,816 | 28.12% | 61 | 0.61% |
2000 | 5,690 | 62.40% | 3,263 | 35.79% | 165 | 1.81% |
1996 | 3,666 | 42.36% | 3,938 | 45.50% | 1,051 | 12.14% |
1992 | 2,852 | 30.75% | 3,392 | 36.57% | 3,031 | 32.68% |
1988 | 4,649 | 53.85% | 3,930 | 45.52% | 55 | 0.64% |
1984 | 5,701 | 62.81% | 3,349 | 36.90% | 27 | 0.30% |
1980 | 4,068 | 47.95% | 4,244 | 50.02% | 172 | 2.03% |
1976 | 2,684 | 33.95% | 5,170 | 65.40% | 51 | 0.65% |
1972 | 5,058 | 69.79% | 2,181 | 30.10% | 8 | 0.11% |
1968 | 2,627 | 35.33% | 3,552 | 47.77% | 1,257 | 16.90% |
1964 | 1,748 | 31.55% | 3,791 | 68.42% | 2 | 0.04% |
1960 | 2,695 | 46.93% | 3,022 | 52.63% | 25 | 0.44% |
1956 | 2,818 | 54.20% | 2,369 | 45.57% | 12 | 0.23% |
1952 | 3,029 | 51.19% | 2,876 | 48.61% | 12 | 0.20% |
1948 | 977 | 19.37% | 3,736 | 74.05% | 332 | 6.58% |
1944 | 416 | 10.08% | 3,291 | 79.76% | 419 | 10.16% |
1940 | 510 | 16.50% | 2,571 | 83.20% | 9 | 0.29% |
1936 | 371 | 11.88% | 2,738 | 87.67% | 14 | 0.45% |
1932 | 392 | 12.53% | 2,722 | 87.02% | 14 | 0.45% |
1928 | 2,001 | 63.28% | 1,161 | 36.72% | 0 | 0.00% |
1924 | 473 | 17.98% | 1,926 | 73.20% | 232 | 8.82% |
1920 | 342 | 15.75% | 1,645 | 75.74% | 185 | 8.52% |
1916 | 124 | 6.71% | 1,431 | 77.44% | 293 | 15.85% |
1912 | 68 | 3.83% | 1,231 | 69.27% | 478 | 26.90% |
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Mineral Wells is a city in Palo Pinto and Parker Counties in the U.S. state of Texas. The population was 14,820 at the 2020 census. The city is named for mineral wells in the area, which were highly popular in the early 1900s.
Possum Kingdom State Park is a state park in Palo Pinto County, Texas, USA, that was built in the 1940s by Civilian Conservation Corps Company 2888 and opened to the public in 1950. It covers approximately 1,530 acres (620 ha), and lies in the Palo Pinto Mountains and Brazos River Valley of Texas. The park borders the large Possum Kingdom Lake, a 20,000-acre (8,100 ha) lake known for its clear blue waters. Possum Kingdom winds for 65 miles (105 km) down the Brazos River, and has more than 300 miles (480 km) of shoreline. A privately owned store and marina in the park cater to boaters and campers.
Palo Pinto is a census-designated place (CDP) and unincorporated community and county seat in Palo Pinto County, Texas, United States. This was a new CDP for the 2010 census with a population of 333.
Possum Kingdom Lake, is a reservoir on the Brazos River located primarily in Palo Pinto County Texas. It was the first water supply reservoir constructed in the Brazos River basin. The lake has an area of approximately 17,000 acres (6,900 ha) with 310 miles (500 km) of shoreline. It holds 750,000 acre-feet (930,000,000 m3) of water with 550,000 acre-feet (680,000,000 m3) available for water supply.
The Granbury micropolitan statistical area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, was an area consisting of two counties in North Central Texas, anchored by the city of Granbury. In 2013, though, the Office of Management and Budget reclassified the area as a part of the Fort Worth-Arlington metropolititan division within the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan area.
The term Palo Pinto Mountains properly refers to a specific cuesta-like range of hills in western Palo Pinto County, Texas. The name Palo Pinto roughly translates to "painted stick" in reference to the juniper trees of the area. Isolated, rugged, and scenic, the ridge extends some 15 miles, from near the intersection of Texas State Highway 16 and Farm to Market Road 207 in the southwest, to Crawford Mountain just south of the Fortune Bend on the Brazos River in the northeast.