Wichita Falls, Texas



Wichita Falls is a city in and the county seat of Wichita County, Texas, United States, United States. Wichita Falls is the principal city of the Wichita Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Archer, Clay and Wichita counties. According to the U.S. Census estimate of 2010, the city had a population of 104,553. In addition to Sheppard Air Force Base, Wichita Falls is also home to the "world's littlest skyscraper". Wichita Falls is sister city to Fürstenfeldbruck in Bavaria, Germany.

History
The Choctaw Indians settled the area in the early 18th century. White settlers arrived in the 1860s to form cattle ranches. The city of Wichita Falls was officially born on Sept. 27, 1872. On that day, a sale of town lots was held at what is now the corner of Seventh and Ohio streets — the birthplace of the city. The Fort Worth and Denver Railway arrived in 1882, the same year the city became the county seat of Wichita County, Texas. The city grew westwards from the train depot. This area is now referred to as the Depot Square Historic District, which has been declared a Texas Historic Landmark.

A flood in 1886 destroyed the original falls on the Wichita River for which the city was named. After nearly 100 years of visitors wanting to visit the non-existent falls, the city built an artificial waterfall beside the river in Lucy Park. The recreated falls are 54 ft high and recirculates at 3,500 gallons per minute. They are visible to south-bound traffic on Interstate 44.

The city is currently seeking funding to rebuild and restore the downtown area. Downtown Wichita Falls was once the city's main shopping area for many years, but lost ground to the creation of new shopping centers throughout the city beginning with Parker Square in 1953 and other similar developments during the 1960s and 1970s, culminating with the opening of Sikes Senter Mall in 1974. The last surviving major downtown retail store, Sears, moved to Sikes Senter in 1990. The former downtown Sears building, constructed in 1967, covered an entire city block and featured "roof top" parking.

Wichita Falls was once home to offices of several oil companies and related industries, along with oil refineries operated by the Continental Oil Company (now Conoco Phillips) until 1952 and Panhandle Oil Company (later American Petrofina) until 1965. Both firms continued to utilize a portion of their former refineries as gasoline/oil terminal facilities for many years.

1964 tornado
A devastating tornado hit the north and northwest portions of Wichita Falls along with Sheppard Air Force Base during the afternoon of April 3, 1964 leaving 7 dead, more than 100 injured and causing roughly $15 million in property damage (approximately 225 homes and businesses). This tornado was also among the first in the nation to be broadcast on live television through warning coverage by KAUZ-TV Channel 6 due to the efforts by station officials to drag a studio camera outside and point it toward the funnel as it was approaching the city's northwest edge. KFDX-TV Channel 3 also provided live tornado warning coverage; reporters were out in the field to report on the tornado's movement and aftermath utilizing two-way radio communication with news director Fred Brooks and weathercaster Ben Strickland back at the studio. A Wichita Falls Times Record News photographer shot a picture from the roof of the newspaper's downtown offices of the funnel as it was approaching Sheppard Air Force Base.

1979 tornado
An F4 tornado struck the heavily populated southern sections of Wichita Falls in the late afternoon on Tuesday, April 10, 1979 (known locally as "Terrible Tuesday"). The storm was part of an outbreak that produced 30 tornadoes around the region. Despite having nearly an hour's advance warning that severe weather was imminent, 42 people were killed (25 in vehicles) and 1,800 were injured because the storm arrived just in time for many people to be driving home from work. The tornado left 20,000 people homeless and caused $400 million in damage, a U.S. record not topped by an individual tornado until the F5 Moore-Oklahoma City tornado of May 3, 1999. 45 people were killed in this tornado.

Geography and climate
Wichita Falls is located at °N, °W (33.897047, -98.514881). The city is about 15 mi south of the border with Oklahoma, 115 mi northwest of Fort Worth, and 140 mi southwest of Oklahoma City. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 70.71 sqmi of which 70.69 sqmi is land and 0.02 sqmi (0.03%) is water.

Wichita Falls experiences a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cfa).

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 104,197 people, 37,970 households, and 24,984 families residing in the city. City-data.com reports the population has since declined to 99,354 in July 2006, though the city disputes these numbers. The population density was 1474.1 PD/sqmi. There were 41,916 housing units at an average density of 593.0 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the city was 75.11% White, 12.40% African American, 0.86% Native American, 2.20% Asian, 0.10% Pacific Islander, 6.39% from other races, and 2.95% from two or more races. Persons of Hispanic or Latino origin accounted for 13.98% of the population.

Of the 37,970 recorded households, 33.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.7% were married couples living together, 12.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.2% were non-families. 28.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.46 and the average family size was 3.04. In the city the population was spread out with 24.7% under the age of 18, 15.2% from 18 to 24, 29.3% from 25 to 44, 18.6% from 45 to 64, and 12.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 106.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 106.7 males. The median income for a household in the city was $32,554, and the median income for a family was $39,911. Males had a median income of $27,609 versus $21,877 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,761. About 10.8% of families and 13.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 17.7% of those under age 18 and 10.3% of those age 65 or over. Based on a July 1, 2006 estimate, the metropolitan statistical area has a population of 145,528, a decline of nearly 4% since 2000 (see Table of United States Metropolitan Statistical Areas).

Newspapers

 * Times Record News (daily)
 * The News Mirror (weekly)

Radio stations

 * KBZS 106.3 FM (Active Rock)
 * KLUR 99.9 FM (Country)
 * KMCU 88.7 FM (National Public Radio)
 * KMOC 89.5 FM (Contemporary Christian)
 * KNIN 92.9 FM (CHR)
 * KQXC 103.9 FM ( Rhythmic Top 40)
 * KWFB 100.9 FM (Adult Contemporary)
 * KWFS 1290 AM (news/talk radio)
 * KWFS-FM 102.3 FM (Modern Country)
 * KZKL 90.5 FM (Contemporary Christian)
 * KYYI 104.7FM (Classic rock)

Television stations

 * KFDX-TV Channel 3 (NBC)
 * KAUZ-TV Channel 6 (CBS)
 * KSWO-TV Channel 7 (ABC)
 * KJTL Channel18 (Fox)

Sports and recreation
Wichita Falls is the home of the annual Hotter'N Hell Hundred, the largest century bicycle ride in the US.

The city has been home to a number of semi-pro, development, and minor league sports teams, including the Wichita Falls Drillers, a semi-pro football team that has won numerous league titles and a national championship; Wichita Falls Kings (formerly known as Wichita Falls Razorbacks), the semi-pro football team Wichita Falls Texans of the Continental Basketball Association; Wichita Falls Fever in the Lone Star Soccer Alliance (1989–92); the Wichita Falls Spudders baseball team in the Texas League; the Wichita Falls Wildcats (formerly the Wichita Falls Rustlers) of the North American Hockey League, an American "Junior A" Hockey league; and the Wichita Falls Roughnecks (formerly the Graham Roughnecks) of the Texas Collegiate League.

Lucy Park is a 170 acre park with a log cabin, duck pond, playground, a frisbee golf course, and picnic areas. It has multiple paved walkways suitable for walking, running, biking, or rollerskating, including a river walk that goes to a re-creation of the original falls for which the city was named (the original falls were destroyed in a 19th century flood; the new falls were built in response to numerous tourist requests to visit the "Wichita Falls"). There are also unpaved trails for off-road biking and hiking.

Local government
The Mayor of Wichita Falls is Glenn Barham. The Wichita Falls City Council has six members: Linda Ammons, Michael Smith, Dorothy Roberts-Burns, Rick Hatcher, Tim Ingle, and Mary Ward. The City Manager is Darron Leiker.

State and federal politics
Wichita Falls is located in the 69th district of the Texas House of Representatives. Lanham Lyne, a Republican, represents the district since 2011. Wichita Falls is also located in the 30th district of the Texas Senate. Craig Estes, a Republican, has held the senate seat since 2001. Wichita Falls is part of Texas's 13th congressional district for the U.S. House of Representatives. Mac Thornberry, a Republican, has held this seat since 1995.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice James V. Allred Unit is located in Wichita Falls, 4 mi northwest of downtown Wichita Falls. The United States Postal Service operates the Wichita Falls Post Office,the Morningside Post Office, the Bridge Creek Post Office,and the Sheppard Air Force Base Post Office.

Education
Wichita Falls is home to Midwestern State University, an accredited 4-year college and the only independent liberal arts college in Texas offering both bachelor's and master's degrees. A local branch of nearby Vernon College offers two-year degrees, certificate programs, and workforce development programs, and also Wayland Baptist University, whose main branch is located in Plainview, Texas.

Public primary and secondary education is covered by the Wichita Falls Independent School District, the City View Independent School District, and the Bright Ideas Charter School. There are several parochial schools, the largest of which is Notre Dame Catholic school. Other private schools operate in the city, as does an active home-school community. Many of the local elementary schools participate in the Head Start program for preschool-aged children. The Wichita Falls ISD is one of only a handful of school districts in Texas that does not require its students to attend a particular school in the district based on their residency. Instead, all schools have magnet programs to attract students, such as the Washington Jackson Math & Science Center.

Two schools in the Wichita Falls Independent School District participate in the International Baccalaureate programmes. Hirschi High School offers the IB Diploma Programme, and G.H. Kirby Junior High School for the Middle Years Programme. Other public high schools are Wichita Falls High School and S. H. Rider High School (Wichita Falls ISD) and City View High School (City View ISD).

Highways
Wichita Falls is the western terminus for Interstate 44. U.S. Highways leading to or through Wichita Falls include 287, 277, 281, and 82. State Highway 240 ends at Wichita Falls and State Highway 79 runs through it. Wichita Falls has one of the largest numbers of freeway mileage for a city of its size as a result of a 1954 bond issue approved by city and county voters to purchase right-of-way for several expressway routes through the city and county, the first of which was opened in 1958 as an alignment of U.S. 287 from Eighth Street at Broad and Holliday streets northwestward across the Wichita River and bisecting Lucy and Scotland parks to the Old Iowa Park Road, which was the original U.S. 287 alignment. That was followed by other expressway links including U.S. 82-287 east to Henrietta (completed in 1968), U.S. 281 south toward Jacksboro (completed 1969), U.S. 287 northwest to Iowa Park and Electra (opened 1962), Interstate 44 north to Burkburnett and the Red River (opened 1964), and Interstate 44 from Old Iowa Park Road to U.S. 287/Spur 325 interchange on the city's north side along with Spur 325 itself from I-44/U.S. 287 to the main gate of Sheppard Air Force Base (both completed as one single project in 1960). However, cross-country traffic for many years had to contend with several ground-level intersections and stop lights over Holliday and Broad streets near the downtown area for approximately 13 blocks between connecting expressway links until a new elevated freeway running overhead was completed in 2001.

Efforts to create an additional freeway along the path of Kell Boulevard for U.S. 82-277 began in 1967 with the acquisition of right-of-way that included a former railroad right-of-way and the first project including construction of the present frontage roads completed in 1977, followed by freeway lanes, overpasses and on/off ramps in 1989 from just east of Brook Avenue west to Kemp oulevard; and similar projects west from Kemp to Barnett Road in 2001 followed by Barnett Road west past FM 369 in 2010 to tie in which a project now underway to transform U.S. 277 into a continuous four-lane expressway between Wichita Falls and Abilene.

Ground transportation
Greyhound Lines provides intercity bus service from Wichita Falls to other locations served by Greyhound via its terminal at the Jolly truck stop outside of town. Skylark Van Service shuttles passengers to and from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on several runs during the day all week long.

Air transportation
The Wichita Falls Municipal Airport is served by American Eagle with five flights daily to the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. The Kickapoo Downtown Airpark and the Wichita Valley Airport serve smaller, private planes.

Notable people

 * Bowling for Soup, rock band
 * Orville Bullington, Republican nominee for governor of Texas in 1932
 * Frank Kell Cahoon, Midland oilman and former politician
 * Greyson Chance, singer-songwriter and pianist
 * Don Cherry, charting pop singer and a leading amateur golfer of the 1950s and early 60s
 * Phyllis Coates, actress who originated the role of Lois Lane in first twenty-six episodes of Adventures of Superman
 * William C. Conner (1920–2009), federal judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
 * Paul Eggers, Republican nominee for governor of Texas in 1968 and 1970
 * "Cowboy" Morgan Evans, Rodeo champion
 * Mia Hamm, professional soccer player
 * Eddie Hill, NHRA drag racer
 * Neel Kearby, World War II US Army Air Forces ace and Medal of Honor recipient
 * Khari Long, professional football player
 * Bill McDonald, legendary Texas Ranger
 * Dave Mitchell, radio personality
 * Ed Neal, professional football player
 * Graham B. Purcell, Jr., U.S. Representative from 1962 to 1973.
 * Frances Reid, soap opera actress
 * Lloyd Ruby, race car driver
 * Bernard Scott, professional football player
 * Frank Lee Sprague Composer and musician
 * Keith Stegall, country music artist and record producer
 * John Tower, U.S. Senator from 1961 to 1984.
 * Tommy Tune, Broadway actor, singer, dancer, producer
 * Nathan Vasher, professional football player
 * Dave Willis, voice actor, screenwriter, and television producer