Wichita Falls, Texas
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Wichita Falls is a city in Wichita County, Texas, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 104,197. It is the county seat of Wichita County[Geographic references#6GR6].
Sheppard Air Force Base, a United States Air Force base, is located in Wichita Falls.
Wichita Falls is sister city to Fürstenfeldbruck in Bavaria, Germany.
The city's main newspaper is the Times Record News.
Geography
Wichita Falls is located at (33.897047, -98.514881)[Geographic references#1GR1].The city is about 15 miles from the border with Oklahoma.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 183.1 km² (70.7 mi²). 183.1 km² (70.7 mi²) of it is land and 0.1 km² (0.04 mi²) of it (0.03%) is water.
The Wichita Falls metropolitan statistical area includes all of Wichita and Archer counties. The population estimate of the Wichita Falls metropolitan statistical area is 147,826, as of July 1, 2004. This estimate ranks the Wichita Falls metropolitan statistical area 255th in the United States.
Demographics
As of the census[Geographic references#2GR2] of 2000, there were 104,197 people, 37,970 households, and 24,984 families residing in the city. The population density was 569.1/km² (1,474.1/mi²). There were 41,916 housing units at an average density of 228.9/km² (593.0/mi²). 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. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 13.98% of the population.There were 37,970 households out of which 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.
Transportation
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. Texas State Highway 240 ends at Wichita Falls and State Highway 79 runs through it.Air Travel
The Wichita Falls Municipal Airport is served by American Eagle with six flights daily to the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. The Kickapoo Downtown Airpark and the Wichita Valley Airport serve smaller, private planes.Van Service
Greyhound Lines provides intercity bus service from Wichita Falls to other locations served by Greyhound. Skylark Van Service shuttles passengers to and from DFW on several runs during the day all week long.Education
Wichita Falls is home to Midwestern State University, an accredited 4-year college offering both bachelor's and master's degrees.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.
Four schools in the Wichita Falls Independent School District participate in the International Baccalaureate programmes. Hirschi High School offers the IB Diploma Programme. Three others are candidate schools: G.H. Kirby Junior High School for the Middle Years Programme; and Washington/Jackson Math/Science Center and Lamar Primary Center for the Primary 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).
Sports and Recreation
Wichita Falls is the home of the annual Hotter'N Hell Hundred, the largest century (one hundred mile) 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 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.
Soccer legend Mia Hamm grew up in Wichita Falls, but left to finish high school in Northern Virginia and later played for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
NFL players Dominic Rhodes and Bryan Gilmore went to school at Midwestern State University.
Race car driver Lloyd Ruby was born in Wichita Falls. Eddie Hill also resides in Wichita Falls.
The band Bowling for Soup originated here, though they made their name in the Austin and Dallas music scenes.
World War I flying ace Eric Wilson was born in Wichita Falls.
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 feet high and recirculates at 3,500 gallons per minute. They are visible to south-bound traffic on Interstate 44.
Lucy Park is a 170-acre park with a log cabin, duck pond, playground, and picnic areas. It has multiple paved walkways suitable for walking, running, biking, or rollerskating, including a river walk that goes to the Falls. There are also unpaved trails for off-road biking and hiking.
1979 tornado
A large F4 tornado struck the heavily populated southern sections of Wichita Falls in the late afternoon on Tuesday, April 10, 1979 (still known locally as "Terrible Tuesday"). The storm was part of a record outbreak [link] 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 1800 were injured. The tornado left 20,000 people homeless and did $400 million in damage in 1979 dollars, a U.S. record not topped by an individual tornado until the F5 Moore-Oklahoma City tornado of May 3, 1999 [link].
External links
- [Wichita Falls' Talk Forum]
- [City of Wichita Falls official website]
- [United Regional Health Care System - Wichita Falls County Hospital]
- ["The April 10, 1979 Severe Weather Outbreak" by Don Burgess]
- [Wichita Falls and North Texas Real Estate Issues]
- [Picture of the downtown skyline.]
Maps of Wichita Falls, Texas
| State of Texas Texas Topics | History | Republic of Texas | Geography | Government | Politics | Economy | Texans |
|---|---|
| Capital | Austin |
|
Regions | Arklatex | Big Bend | Brazos Valley | Central Texas | Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex | Deep East Texas | East Texas | Edwards Plateau | Galveston Bay | Golden Triangle | Greater Houston | North Texas | Northeast Texas | Permian Basin | Piney Woods | Rio Grande Valley | Texas Hill Country | Texas Panhandle | Llano Estacado | Southeast Texas | South Texas | West Texas |
|
Metropolitan areas | Abilene | Amarillo | Austin–Round Rock | Beaumont–Port Arthur | Brownsville–Harlingen | Bryan–College Station | Corpus Christi | Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington | El Paso | Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown | Killeen–Temple | Laredo | Longview–Marshall | Lubbock | McAllen–Edinburg–Mission | Midland–Odessa | San Angelo | San Antonio | Sherman–Denison | Texarkana | Tyler | Victoria | Waco | Wichita Falls See also: List of Texas counties |
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