The area was first settled in the late 1840s, but a community did not develop until 1902, when the Texas and New Orleans Railroad (T&NO) was built through the area. John W. Chandler and his sister, Sophronia, who owned the surrounding land, asked Rusk attorney C. H. Martin to survey a townsite. Chandler named the new town Gallatin, after his hometown of Gallatin, Tennessee[citation needed] (which in turn had been named for Albert Gallatin). The new community, located in a large truck-farming area, quickly developed into a market for tomatoes and other produce. The construction in 1907 of a branch line of the T&NO between Gallatin and Rusk further enhanced the town as a shipping center.
By 1914 Gallatin had a population of 350, several churches, two general stores, a drugstore, a school, and a cotton gin. In 1916, virtually the entire business district was destroyed by fire, but the town was quickly rebuilt, and as late as the mid-1930s it reported 500 residents and five businesses.
After World War II, the community steadily declined. Its school was consolidated with the Rusk schools in the 1950s, and many of the town's businesses closed. The population declined to 350 by the early 1950s, and in 1990 only 171 residents and two stores were reported there. Nevertheless, Gallatin was incorporated in the early 1980s. In 1991, it had an estimated population of 382 and three businesses. In 2000, the population was 378 with four businesses.[6]
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 4.6 square miles (12km2), all land.
The racial and ethnic makeup of the city was predominantly non-Hispanic white, and the median household income was $65,673 with a mean income of $68,133.[8]
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Gallatin had a population of 321, down from the town's first record high of 419 in 2010.[9][3] The median age was 42.1 years, with 23.1% of residents under the age of 18 and 24.0% of residents 65 years of age or older.[9]
For every 100 females there were 95.7 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 97.6 males age 18 and over.[9]
0.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 100.0% lived in rural areas.[10]
There were 131 households in Gallatin, of which 34.4% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 55.7% were married-couple households, 19.1% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 21.4% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 18.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.[9]
There were 141 housing units, of which 7.1% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0.0% and the rental vacancy rate was 10.0%.[9]
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