Hereford, Texas

History

Hereford was founded as "Blue Water" in 1899 after the Pecos and Northern Texas Railway connected Amarillo to Farwell. After a town already named Blue Water was discovered, residents renamed the town "Hereford" in honor of the cattle of the local ranchers and the city, Hereford, in the United Kingdom.

During World War II, a prisoner-of-war camp existed there for Italian prisoners of war. It was dismantled in 1947.

In 1975, popular high school teacher Wayne Woodward was fired for his efforts to establish a local branch of the American Civil Liberties Union. Mr. Woodward won a subsequent legal suit, that gained national attention, against the Hereford Independent School District. The events were documented in the 2022 book You Will Never Be One of Us by Timothy P. Bowman.

A rich Western heritage includes the Las Escarbadas ranch house of the XIT Ranch, once located southwest of Hereford. The restored historic structure can now be seen at the National Ranching Heritage Center at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. The Deaf Smith County Historical Museum at 400 Sampson Street in Hereford offers indoor and outdoor exhibits on the settlement of West Texas.

Hereford was once known as the "Windmill City" due to its many windmills supplying fresh water from the Ogallala Aquifer.

Geography

Hereford is located in southeastern Deaf Smith County and on the Llano Estacado. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 15.4 km2, all land.

U.S. Highway 60 passes through the city as 1st Street, leading northeast 48 mi to Amarillo and southwest 57 mi to Clovis, New Mexico. U.S. Highway 385 (25 Mile Avenue) runs north–south through the city, leading north 30 mi to Interstate 40 at Vega and south 20 mi to Dimmitt.

Climate

Hereford's climate is classified as a steppe climate (BSk) using the 2006 map of Köppen climate classification, meaning it is semiarid. Hereford was named as the "coolest" city in Texas with an average summer temperature of 73 F.

| Jan record high F = 84 | Feb record high F = 85 | Mar record high F = 98 | Apr record high F = 99 | May record high F = 103 | Jun record high F = 111 | Jul record high F = 109 | Aug record high F = 107 | Sep record high F = 102 | Oct record high F = 97 | Nov record high F = 87 | Dec record high F = 80 | year record high F = | Jan avg record high F = 71.0 | Feb avg record high F = 76.2 | Mar avg record high F = 84.3 | Apr avg record high F = 89.5 | May avg record high F = 96.0 | Jun avg record high F = 102.1 | Jul avg record high F = 101.4 | Aug avg record high F = 99.2 | Sep avg record high F = 95.8 | Oct avg record high F = 89.3 | Nov avg record high F = 79.7 | Dec avg record high F = 71.4 | year avg record high F = 104.1 | Jan avg record low F = 9.3 | Feb avg record low F = 11.1 | Mar avg record low F = 18.4 | Apr avg record low F = 26.5 | May avg record low F = 36.9 | Jun avg record low F = 51.4 | Jul avg record low F = 59.0 | Aug avg record low F = 56.9 | Sep avg record low F = 43.7 | Oct avg record low F = 28.2 | Nov avg record low F = 16.6 | Dec avg record low F = 8.9 | year avg record low F = 4.2 | Jan record low F = -15 | Feb record low F = -17 | Mar record low F = 1 | Apr record low F = 14 | May record low F = 16 | Jun record low F = 40 | Jul record low F = 51 | Aug record low F = 44 | Sep record low F = 31 | Oct record low F = 15 | Nov record low F = 0 | Dec record low F = -12 | year record low F = |access-date = December 31, 2023}}{{cite web |access-date = December 31, 2023}}

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 14,972 people, 4,776 households, and 3,593 families residing in the city.

2010 census

As of the 2010 United States census, 15,370 people resided in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 71.7% Hispanic or Latino, 26.3% White, 0.9% Black, 0.2% Native American, 0.3% Asian, 0.1% from some other race, and 0.5% from two or more races.

2000 census

As of the census of 2000, 14,597 people, 4,839 households, and 3,730 families resided in the city. The population density was 2,600.8 PD/sqmi. The 5,323 housing units averaged 948.4 per square mile (366.3/km). The racial makeup of the city was 69.86% White, 1.76% African American, 0.82% Native American, 0.26% Asian, 0.12% Pacific Islander, 24.77% from other races, and 2.41% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 61.37% of the population.

Of the 4,839 households, 42.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.4% were married couples living together, 14.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.9% were not families. About 20.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.96 and the average family size was 3.44.

In the city, the population was distributed as 34.0% under the age of 18, 9.9% from 18 to 24, 25.6% from 25 to 44, 18.1% from 45 to 64, and 12.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.7 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $29,599, and for a family was $33,387. Males had a median income of $26,488 versus $18,920 for females. The per capita income for the city was $12,787. About 19.4% of families and 20.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 25.9% of those under age 18 and 15.8% of those age 65 or over.

In December 2015, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer voted Hereford not only the "most conservative" city in Texas, but also in the United States, in terms of political contributions.

Education

The first public school was opened in 1900. Today, Hereford's seven public schools serve around 4,000 students and are directed by the Hereford Independent School District.

Notable people

• Parker Bridwell, pitcher for MLB's New York Yankees, was born in Hereford.
• Ron Ely, actor, best remembered for his role as Tarzan on an NBC television series in the 1960s, was born in Hereford in 1938
• Lon L. Fuller (1902–1978), American legal philosopher known for his advocacy of a secular form of natural law theory, was born in Hereford
• Rip Hawk, professional wrestler, lived in Hereford, after retiring from wrestling.
• Edgar Mitchell (1930–2016), who on Apollo 14 in 1971 became the sixth astronaut to walk on the Moon, was born in Hereford.
• Skeeter Skelton, lawman and firearms writer

Gallery

Image:Downtown Hereford, TX IMG 4850.JPG|Downtown Hereford, with the grain elevator to the rear Image:Hereford, TX, City Hall IMG 4852.JPG|Hereford City Hall Image:First Bank Southwest, Hereford, 'TX IMG 4848.JPG|First Bank Southwest in Hereford Image:St. Anthony's Catholic Church, Hereford, TX IMG 4895.JPG|St. Anthony's Roman Catholic Church in Hereford is located off U.S. Highway 385. Image:Hereford Swimming Pool, Hereford, TX IMG 4896.JPG|Swimming in Hereford Image:Hereford depot IMG 4844.JPG|Hereford train depot Image:"Hereford Brand" newspaper office, Hereford, TX IMG 4894.JPG|Hereford Brand newspaper office Image:Mills' Ranch Store, Hereford, TX IMG 4849.JPG|The former Mills Ranch Western Store, once a fixture of downtown Hereford

References

References

1. "2019 U.S. Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau.
2. "U.S. Census website". [[United States Census Bureau]].
3. {{GNIS. 2410747
4. "Archived copy".
5. "Find a County". National Association of Counties.
6. [http://www.crc.coop/crcweb/2009January.asp Spotlight on CRC Member: Deaf Smith Electric Cooperative.]{{dead link. (November 2017)
7. "Hereford, TX".
8. (2016-06-09). "Oral History Interview with Wayne Woodward, June 9, 2016".
9. "Woodward v. Hereford Independent Sch. Dist., 421 F. Supp. 93 (N.D. Tex. 1976)".
10. Paul., Bowman, Timothy. (July 28, 2022). "You Will Never Be One of Us : a Teacher, a Texas Town, and the Rural Roots of Radical Conservatism.". University of Oklahoma Press.
11. Hereford Economic Development Corporation. (August 20, 2020). ""The Windmill City"".
12. "Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Hereford city, Texas". U.S. Census Bureau.
13. M. Kottek. (2006). "World Map of the Köppen-Geiger climate classification updated". Meteorol. Z..
14. (February 18, 2014). "These Are the 10 Best Places to Live in Texas".
15. "Census of Population and Housing". Census.gov.
16. "Explore Census Data".
17. https://www.census.gov/ {{nonspecific. (August 2022)
18. "About the Hispanic Population and its Origin".
19. Daniel DeMay. (December 17, 2015). "The most liberal and most conservative cities in the US". [[The Connecticut Post]].
20. [https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/ The Handbook of Texas Online], retrieved 2009-12-30
21. [http://www.herefordisd.net/ Hereford ISD], retrieved 2009-12-30