Coryell County, Texas

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Coryell County, Texas
The Coryell County Courthouse in Gatesville, Texas. The courthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 18, 1977.
Location in the state of Texas
Texas's location in the U.S.
Founded	1854
Seat	Gatesville
Area  - Total  - Land  - Water	1,057 sq mi (2,738 km²) 1,052 sq mi (2,725 km²) 5 sq mi (13 km²), 0.47%
Population  - (2000)  - Density	74,978 73/sq mi (28/km²)

Coryell County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. In 2000, its population was 74,978. The county seat is Gatesville. Coryell County forms part of the Killeen–Temple–Fort Hood Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is named for James Coryell, a frontiersman, and Texas Ranger who was killed by Native Americans while protecting settlers.

History Timeline

• 4500 b.c. Indigenous peoples first inhabitants. Later known tribes in the area include Tonkawa, Lipan Apache, Kiowa and Comanche.

• 1519-1685 Hernando Cortez and Alonso Álvarez de Pineda claim Texas for Spain.

• 1685-1690 France plants its flag on Texas soil, but departs after only five years.

• 1690-1821 Spanish missions and settlements flourish in Texas.

• 1821 Mexico claims its independence from Spain. Anglos from the north settle in Texas and claim Mexican citizenship.

• 1825 Mexican government contracts with Robert Leftwich, later to Sterling C. Robertson, to settle 800 families in Texas. Both men came from Tennessee.

• 1829, September 15 - Mexican President Vicente Ramon Guerrero, himself an ex-slave of Spanish, African and Native American descent, emancipates all slaves within the Republic of Mexico:

1st - Slavery is abolished in the republic.

2nd - Consequently, those who have been until now considered slaves are free.

3rd - When the circumstances of the treasury may permit, the owners of the slaves will be indemnified in the mode that the laws may provide. And in order that every part of this decree may be fully complied with, let it be printed, published, and circulated.

Given at the Federal Palace of Mexico, the 15th of September, 1829.

Vicente Guerrero To José María Bocanegra

• 1836

March 2 - Texas Declaration of Independence from Mexico establishes the Republic of Texas.

March 6 - The Alamo falls.

April 21–22 - Battle of San Jacinto, Antonio López de Santa Anna captured.

May 14 - Santa Anna signs the Treaties of Velasco.

• 1845, December 29 - Texas Annexation by the United States

• 1846, May 13 - The United States Congress officially declares war on Mexico.

• 1848, February 2 - Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo officially ends the Mexican-American War.

• 1849 Fort Gates established by Captain William R. Montgomery.

• 1854 Texas legislature establishes Coryell County, named for frontier adventurer James Coryell, who came to Texas from Ohio. Gatesville is chosen as the county seat.

• 1860 Population 2,360, including 306 slaves. The majority of residents are from Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky and North Carolina.

• 1861

County votes for secession from the Union and sends several companies of volunteers for the Confederate States Army.

February 1 - Texas secedes from the Union

March 2 - Texas joins the Confederate States of America.

• 1863, January 1 – The Emancipation Proclamation.

• 1865

April 9 – Robert E. Lee formally surrenders to Ulysses S. Grant at the Appomattox Court House.

April 15 – President Abraham Lincoln dies of a head wound inflicted by assassin John Wilkes Booth.

June 19 – Major General Gordon Granger arrives in Galveston to enforce the emancipation of all slaves. It is the first time African Americans in Texas know of the Emancipation. The date becomes celebrated annually in Texas as Juneteenth, and later as an official state holiday known as Emancipation Day.

December 6 – The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits slavery.

• 1867-1884 The Chisholm Trail passes through Coryell County.

• 1870, March 30 - The United States Congress readmits Texas into the Union.

• 1873 Austrian immigrant Major George Erath elected to the Texas Senate.

• 1880 Tenant farming and sharecropping make up one-third of country agriculture.

• 1885

Texas and St. Louis Railway lays track from Waco to Gatesville.

Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway runs through southern tip of the county.

• 1889 Correctional facility Gatesville State School for Boys opens.

• 1897 Current county limestone and sandstone courthouse is erected. Beaux-Arts style, architect W.C.Dodson.

• 1911 Stephenville North and South Texas Railway runs through Gatesville.

• Great Depression of the 20th Century Civilian Conservation Corps aids local economy with construction of buildings and facilities at Mother Neff State Park, and with soil conservation and brush control programs at Gatesville.

• 1942 Fort Hood opens and absorbs 225 square miles (580 km²) of land in Coryell.

• 1962 Correctional facility Mountain View School for Boys opens.

• 1981 Maximum security prison for men opens. Texas Department of Corrections becomes one of Coryell’s largest employers.

• 2009, November 5 - Fort Hood shooting – Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan kills 13 people, wounds 30.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,057 square miles (2,738 km²), of which 1,052 square miles (2,725 km²) is land and 5 square miles (13 km²) (0.47%) is water.

Major highways

• U.S. Highway 84
• U.S. Highway 190
• State Highway 36

Adjacent counties

• Bosque County (north)
• McLennan County (northeast)
• Bell County (southeast)
• Lampasas County (southwest)
• Hamilton County (northwest)

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 74,978 people, 19,950 households, and 15,780 families residing in the county. The population density was 71 people per square mile (28/km²). There were 21,776 housing units at an average density of 21 per square mile (8/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 65.28% White, 21.80% Black or African American, 0.88% Native American, 1.75% Asian, 0.49% Pacific Islander, 6.26% from other races, and 3.54% from two or more races. 12.57% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 19,950 households out of which 47.70% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 64.80% were married couples living together, 11.00% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.90% were non-families. 16.90% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.91 and the average family size was 3.27.

In the county, the population was spread out with 26.20% under the age of 18, 17.90% from 18 to 24, 36.30% from 25 to 44, 13.80% from 45 to 64, and 5.70% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 28 years. For every 100 females there were 105.30 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 106.20 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $35,999, and the median income for a family was $38,307. Males had a median income of $24,236 versus $21,186 for females. The per capita income for the county was $14,410. About 7.80% of families and 9.50% of the population were below the poverty line, including 12.30% of those under age 18 and 9.00% of those age 65 or over.

Cities and towns

• Copperas Cove
• Evant
• Flat (unincorporated)
• Fort Hood
• Gatesville
• Jonesboro (unincorporated)
• Mound (unincorporated)
• Oglesby
• Purmela (unincorporated)
• South Mountain
• The Grove (unincorporated)

Government and infrastructure

Of the eight Texas Department of Criminal Justice general correctional facilities for women, which include five prisons and three state jails, Five of the units, including four prisons and one state jail, are in the City of Gatesville.

The Christina Crain Unit prison (formerly Gatesville Unit), the Hilltop Unit prison, the Dr. Lane Murray Unit prison, and the Linda Woodman Unit state jail are co-located amongst one another. In addition the Mountain View Unit, a prison with the State of Texas female death row, is in Gatesville. One male prison, the Alfred D. Hughes Unit, is in Gatesville.

Mountain View opened in July 1975, Crain opened in August 1980, Hilltop opened in November 1981, Hughes opened in January 1990. Murray opened in November 1995, and Woodman opened in June 1997. In 1995, of the counties in Texas, Coryell had the third highest number of state prisons and jails, after Walker and Brazoria.

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Coryell County, Texas

External links

• Texas State Directory, County officials
• Coryell County at the Open Directory Project
• Coryell County in Handbook of Texas Online at the University of Texas
• Read James Coryell's entry in the Biographical Encyclopedia of Texas hosted by the Portal to Texas History.