Huntsville, Texas
Huntsville is a city and also a newly designated
micropolitan area located in the
U.S. state of
Texas within
Walker County. As of the
U.S. Census 2000, the city population was 35,078. Huntsville is the home of
Sam Houston State University. It is the
county seat of
Walker County and is situated in
East Texas. The city had its beginning about 1836, when Pleasant and Ephraim Gray opened a trading post on the site. Ephraim Gray became first postmaster in 1837, naming it after his former home town,
Huntsville,
Alabama.
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66 Foot Tall Statue of Sam Houston in Huntsville, Texas. |
Huntsville is the headquarters of the
Texas Department of Criminal Justice (the only state agency with headquarters outside of
Austin). As such, it houses the execution chamber of the state of Texas. (Death-row inmates are no longer housed in Huntsville, due to the escape of several death-row inmates from Huntsville's Ellis Unit prison, where male death-row inmates were housed from 1965 to 1999. Male death-row inmates are now housed in Texas' Polunsky Unit in
Livingston, and female death-row inmates are housed in Texas' Mountain View Unit in
Gatesville. Texas death-row inmates are only brought to Huntsville shortly before their scheduled execution.)
Huntsville became the home of
Sam Houston, the first President of the
Republic of Texas, and later Governor of the state. Located in town are two of Houston's homes, a museum, a 66 ft statue,
Sam Houston State University, and Houston's grave. The statue (which is the world's largest statue of an American hero, and is easily visible from
Interstate 45) is the title and subject of a
country music song by
Merle Haggard.
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Location of Huntsville, Texas |
Huntsville is located at (30.711254, -95.548373).
According to the
United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 80.9
km² (31.2
mi²). 80.0 km² (30.9 mi²) of it is land and 0.9 km² (0.3 mi²) of it (1.09%) is water.
As of the
census of 2000, there were 35,078 people, 10,266 households, and 5,471 families residing in the city. The
population density was 438.3/km² (1,135.1/mi²). There were 11,508 housing units at an average density of 143.8/km² (372.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 65.78%
White, 26.14%
African American, 0.33%
Native American, 1.11%
Asian, 0.07%
Pacific Islander, 4.91% from
other races, and 1.65% from two or more races.
Hispanic or
Latino of any race were 16.22% of the population.
There were 10,266 households out of which 25.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.0% were
married couples living together, 12.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 46.7% were non-families. 30.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.31 and the average family size was 2.97.
In the city the population was spread out with 15.1% under the age of 18, 29.3% from 18 to 24, 30.8% from 25 to 44, 16.3% from 45 to 64, and 8.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 28 years. For every 100 females there were 152.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 163.8 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $27,075, and the median income for a family was $40,562. Males had a median income of $27,386 versus $22,908 for females. The
per capita income for the city was $13,576. About 13.1% of families and 23.9% of the population were below the
poverty line, including 23.9% of those under age 18 and 14.7% of those age 65 or over.
The City of Huntsville is served by the
Huntsville Independent School District.
