Katy, Texas
Encyclopedia : K : KA : KAT : Katy, Texas
- Note: Census information, as well as other information on this page, are based on the actual city limits of Katy (Old Katy) and do not include the unincorporated Houston part of Katy. For more information about the suburban area around the City of Katy please go to the article titled Greater Katy.
Overview
Katy is named for the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (commonly referred to as the "Katy Railroad", now a part of Union Pacific) that ran through Katy in the 19th century. Katy was once known as Cane Island. The name is derived from Cane Island Creek which runs just west of downtown. Cane Creek is a branch of Buffalo Bayou. The origins of the name Cane Island are believed to be from the fact that Katy was once a major sugar cane producer. The Houston suburb's prime attraction is the Katy Mills Mall. A secondary attraction is an unusual outdoor museum of Chinese culture and history called the Forbidden Gardens.Katy has three shopping centers. Only one is finished, that one is called Katy Mills Mall which is one of the largest malls in Texas. The two others are The Village of Katy, a shopping and business center, and West Grand Promenade, that is being developed by Simon, the same operator of the Houston Galleria. One store has been finished, J.C. Penney, at the West Grand Promenade shopping center.
Geography
Katy is located at (29.792582, -95.822436)[Geographic references#1GR1].According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 27.6 km² (10.7 mi²). None of the area is covered with water.
Katy vs. Katy area
Katy residents often split the city into two informal sections: "Old Katy" (or Katy Proper) and "Katy Area". Old Katy is basically the actual city limits of Katy and lies for the most part north of Interstate 10. This is the original Katy from before the 1970s when Houston's Energy Corridor made its way west on I-10 and the development that came with it.The "Katy area" is made up of large sections of unincorporated Harris and Fort Bend counties and for the most part sits east and southeast of the city limits of Katy. This area is within the Katy Independent School District and nearly everyone in this area has a Katy postal address.
The Katy area includes newer developments such as Cinco Ranch and Grand Lakes, while also encompassing developments from the 1970s and 1980s such as Memorial Parkway and Nottingham Country. All of the "Katy area" lies in the city of Houston's extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ), not Katy's ETJ. This means that the areas of "Katy area" are controlled by the city of Houston and the city has the ability to annex it in the future. The city of Katy can not annex this area unless the city of Houston releases the area's ETJ to Katy, which has occurred in several small chunks in recent years. The most recent instance of this was in 2001 when Houston ceded about 400 acres (1.6 km²) of ETJ to the City of Katy to allow the Katy Mills Mall and surrounding parking lot to be built entirely within the City of Katy.
The Greater Katy area, which encompasses both the actual City of Katy along with the unincorporated suburban areas around the City, has approximately 175,000 residents total.[[Citing sources citation needed]]
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 11,775 people, 3,888 households, and 3,083 families residing in the city. The population density was 426.1/km² (1,103.7/mi²). There were 4,072 housing units at an average density of 147.3/km² (381.7/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 83.98% White, 4.24% African American, 0.56% Native American, 0.50% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 8.65% from other races, and 2.03% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 23.75% of the population.There were 3,888 households out of which 45.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.9% were married couples living together, 10.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.7% were non-families. 17.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.00 and the average family size was 3.37.
In the city the population was spread out with 31.5% under the age of 18, 8.7% from 18 to 24, 30.9% from 25 to 44, 20.7% from 45 to 64, and 8.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 98.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.5 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $51,111, and the median income for a family was $57,741. Males had a median income of $38,412 versus $33,004 for females. The per capita income for the city was $21,192. 8.4% of the population and 7.0% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 9.1% are under the age of 18 and 6.5% are 65 or older.
A refuge for hurricane victims
The Katy area absorbed several thousand refugees in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. No attempt has been made to get an accurate count of how many evacuees from Louisiana and Mississippi are in the region, however the Katy Independent School District reported on September 7, 2005 that they had received 1,161 new students in the district as a result of the hurricane. Mayor Doyle Callender in a Houston Chronicle interview on September 14, 2005 estimated there are 3,000 to 4,000 refugees in the Katy area shelters while 500 of those are in shelters within the Katy city limits.There are likely thousands more in permanent housing units throughout the Katy area. One of the primary reasons why Katy absorbed such a large number of Hurricane Katrina refugees is its location on Interstate 10, the major east-west artery through the area and direct feeder route of refugees from New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region of Mississippi. Nobody in the mandatory evacuations in the aftermath of the storm was evacuated to the Katy area initially, however, a small number of refugees originally housed in the Reliant Astrodome in Houston were bussed into the Katy area several days after their arrival in the Texas Gulf Coast region.
List of mayors
- Dan Cox (1971-1979)
- John G. Morrison (1979-1983)
- Johnny Nelson (1983-1987)
- Ward A. Stanberry (1988-1991)
- J.W. "Skip" Conner (1991-1995)
- M.H. "Hank" Schmidt (1995-2001)
- Doyle G. Callender (2001-Present)
Famous Katyites
This list includes people both from the City of Katy as well as the Greater Katy area:
- Renée Zellweger, Academy Award Winning Movie Actress (Jerry Maguire, Bridget Jones Diary among others)
- Renée O'Connor, TV Actress ()
- Clint Black, country music superstar in the 1990s
- Roger Clemens, baseball pitcher and seven time Cy Young Award winner. Spent youth in Katy but left before his high school years.
- Frank Bielec, designer on hit TV show Trading Spaces
- Kimberly Caldwell, finalist on American Idol (Season 2)
- Janeane Garofalo, movie actress and radio host on Air America network in addition to stand up comic. Spent high school years in Katy.
- Pamela Ribon, author who spent high school years in Katy.
- King's X, critically acclaimed hard rock band. None of the members are from Katy, but band formed in the Katy area.
- The Galactic Cowboys, similarly acclaimed band along the lines of King's X.
- Yao Ming, basketball superstar for the Houston Rockets. Has made the Katy area his home while in the United States. Ming's father is 6'7" and his mother is 6'3". Customers rave about the Peking duck at his restaurant on Westheimer Blvd. near Gessner.
- Eric Heitmann, football player for the San Francisco 49ers. An All-American player and former honor student, Heitmann graduated from Katy High School in 1998 and went on to play college football for Stanford in Northern California before the 49ers recruited him as an offensive guard.
- Jake Voskuhl, whose full name is Robert Jacob Voskuhl. NBA center for the Charlotte Bobcats. Voskuhl played in Katy during his junior high and high school years in the 90s. After attending college in Connecticut, the 6'11" center played one season with the Chicago Bulls before being traded to the Phoenix Suns in 2001. Phoenix traded Voskuhl, to the Bobcats in July
- Noah McCullough, a 10-year-old expert on U.S. presidential trivia, has appeared on NBC's Tonight Show with Jay Leno and on NBC's Katy Couric's Today Show. The author of two books, the Katy ISD prodigy has mingled with former U.S. Presidents - George Herbert Walker Bush and Jimmy Carter.
Education
Pupils who live in Katy are zoned to schools in Katy Independent School District. Pupils in the city of Katy are zoned to either Katy Elementary School or Hutsell Elementary School. All Katy pupils are zoned to Katy Junior High School and Katy High School.Many homes in unincorporated Fort Bend, Harris, or Waller counties which have Katy addresses are served by other schools in Katy ISD.
Katy is served by the Houston Community College System.
It is served by the Katy Branch of Harris County Public Library.
Sports
In 2005, it was announced that Katy would get its own indoor football team. It would be an expansion team for National Indoor Football League. The team's name would be called the Katy Copperheads, and would play at the Merrell Center. In the district's sports, the Katy Tigers of Katy High School have won 4 state football titles (1959, 1997, 2000, 2003). The Taylor Mustangs of James E. Taylor High School,have won the most tennis state titles. The Cougars of Cinco Ranch High School, have won two consecutive track state titles.Community information
The Katy Family YMCA is located in nearby Cinco Ranch in unincorporated Fort Bend County. The YMCA was named after Ken Lay; Lay asked for his name to be removed from the YMCA in June 2006 due to the Enron Scandal.External links
- [Katy Texas]
- [Master Plan Map of Katy Area / City of Katy]
- [City of Katy official web site]
- [Katy Independent School District web site]
- [Greater Katy Area Chamber of Commerce web site]
- [Katy Area Economic Development Council web site]
- [Katy Times — Tri-weekly newspaper for the Katy area]
- [Ghosts - Old Town Katy, Texas]
- [New Construction Communities Map]
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