Midland County, Texas
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Surnames/tags: midland_county us_history texas
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Surnames/tags: midland_county us_history texas
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Welcome to Midland County, Texas Project!
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- The leader of this project is: Mary Richardson.
Contents |
History/Timeline
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- Midland County was formed and organized 1885 from Tom Green County. It received the name from its "midway location" on the railroad between El Paso and Fort Worth. The Chihuahua Trail and Emigrant Road were pioneer trails that crossed the county.[1]
- Prior to European settlers entered Midland County area, many early transportation routes..
- Comanches crossed the area on the Great Comanche War Trail.[2]
- 1839 Mexican travelers crossed theon the Chihuahua Trail, (NW from Big Spring to Castle Gap on the Pecos river. [2]
- Another trail was Emigrant Road -crossed from Preston on the Red River.[2]
- Wagon roads crossed one toward the Double Mountain Fork of Brazos
- another Wagon road started at N Concho, toward Five Wells and Laguna Cuates.[2]
- 2 wagon roads went into New Mexico
- After 1850 - surveyors used these roads as they were asked to mark out boundary lines of Texas and the USA.[2]
- 1870 Buffalo hunters hunted the large buffalo herds of the region. (Sometimes Indians would kill and eat horses from ranches if no buffalo were found.[2]
- Ranching started by Herman Garrett with his sheep ranch.. He drove 300 sheep over Pecos River near where Midland (town) exists and settled as one of the county's first settlers.[2]
- 1881 - The Texas and Pacific Railway was installed, did advertising to bring settlers into the area. [2]
- Nelson Morris bought 200,000 Acres for a black Angus ranch and was first to fence county land.[2]Cattle ranching started after wells could be drilled.
- '1885'Midland county was formed from Tom Green County and organized 1886 300 people.
- Midland town was named Midway became county seat (desciption on the railroad). Only 300 people lived in the area
- 1885 the Staked Plaines newspaper began
- 1887 Scharbauer Ranches- Located in Martin, Midland, Moore, and Oldham counties 150,000 Acres.....PRIMARY USE cow-calf, quarter horses
- John Scharbauer worked on his father-in-law's farm in Schenectady, New York, prior to immigrating to Texas, giving him some ranching experience. He traveled from the East via railroad in 1883. He and another newcomer bought a few acres and a heard of sheep.. He moved to Midland and began a cattle ranch. A nephew, Clarence joined John. When John died, Clarence inherited the ranch, and added more acres to the ranch. Clarence began a lease with the University of Texas. When Clarence died, Clarence Jr bought more acres including some from the Matador Land and Cattle Company. Clarence Jr and children own and operate the ranches today.[3]
- 1889 Midland Gazette began
- 1891 - US Dept of Agriculture tried a rain making experiment. Also watermelons and pumpkins were tried.
- 1895 - TX legislature passed its Four Section Act, which enabled stockmen to buy 4 sections for ea family member at reduced terms.
- 1900-Farmers moving to area. Ranching dominated 45,000 cattle were there, One acre was cropland planted in oats.
- 1910 178 ranches and farms were present. 29,000 cattle. Crop farming began with Sorghum, cotton and corn
- Late 1910's some parts of the county suffered droughts. Midland College was established
- 1911 Irrigation began, showed farmers and ranchers how to increase production.
- 1920- Oil Boom started. #farms and ranches in the county had declined to 133. 4,600 acres in Midland County were devoted to cotton, and 2,449 people were living in the area. Cotton farming continued to expand. > 4,600 acres in Midland County were farming cotton. 2,449 people in the area. Cotton farming continued to expand in the county during the 1920s
- 1921 - Midland College failed. Midland and Northwestern Railway ceased service.
- 1923 - Oil strikes in Reagan and Ector counties.
- 1926 - after oil strikes in Ector County city of Midland became the corporate headquarters for oil companies. Farm expansion and the oil boom combined to attract thousands of new people to the county
- 1930 more than 31,200 acres in the county were planted in cotton, 361 farms and ranches in the area. Midland County's economy also benefitted when oil was discovered in neighboring counties. population was 8,005. The oil boom buoyed economy of Great Depression. Cotton production dropped 60 % during the 1930s
- 1940 9,622 acres in the county were devoted to the cotton, yet population increased to 11,721
- 1945 Great boom resulted from production of Midland County wells, and
- 1947 -Midland South Pool success, established the wealth of the .
- 1949 and 1952 2 more booms giving prosperity for the county.
- Town of Midland county called"The Tall City of the Plains," as oil companies built high-rise buildings there. The county became one of the more productive petroleum areas in the state.
- 1953 - the "Midland Minnie " (fossilized remains) were discovered by archaeologists on the Scharbauer Ranch.. Though not definitive, "Minnie's" age were tentatively determined to belong to the Folsom culture of the late Pleistocene age, when the area had a cool, humid climate. Fossil evidence of extinct species of horse, antelope, peccary, wolf, mammoth, and sloth were also found at the site.[4]
- 1956 - 17,060,000 barrels of crude were produced in Midland County
- 1965 - 11,747,000 barrels in 1965
- 1968, the county lost a trial before the Supreme Court in Avery v. Midland County which required local districts to be nearly equal, regarding the Fourteenth Amendment. The city of Midland had most of the county's population but only elected one of its 5 county commissioners. This was a violation of Fourteenth Amendment. [5]
- 1974 - 11,274,000 barrels in 1974
- 1982- over 7,615,000 barrels
- 1990 the county produced 8,693,000 barrels of crude oi
- January 1, 1991, 455,926,000 barrels of oil had been taken from county lands since discovery in 1945.https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hcm12
Government Offices
- 1st 1886 Midland County Courthouse
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| 1886. |
- 2nd Midland County Courthouse
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| 1905 Courthouse. |
- 3rd Midland County Courthouse- Architect - Voelcker and Dixon, its Style - Art Deco. It was remodeled 1974
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| 1930 Courthouse |
- Newest Courthouse- Style - Modern
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| 2010 courthouse |
Geography
- Midland county- size-- 902 square miles (2,340 km2),. Of this 1.8 sq miles is water. The Spraberry Trend is the 3rd largest oil field in the USA. Much reserve is beneath the county.
- Location - southern edge of the High Plains in West Texas,
- Center of the county is--31°52' N latitude and 102°00' W longitude, 120 miles S of Lubbock.
- Named for location -- halfway between Fort Worth and El Paso on Texas and Pacific Railway.
- Size- 939 square miles of flat land broken by draws and covered by scattered mesquite
- Soil - sandy red and dark loam soils
- Elevation- 2,550 to 2,900 feet above sea level.
- No Rivers or lakes There are no riversor any other permanent surface waters in the county. :Annual rainfall is 13.51 inches.
- Temperatures 31° F in January to an average maximum of 95° F in July
- Growing season lasts 218 days
Adjacent counties
- Martin County (north)
- Glasscock County (east)
- Upton County (south)
- Ector County (west)
- Andrews County (northwest)
- Reagan County (southeast)
Demographics
2010 census, the population was 136,872. The county seat is Midland. The county is named as the county is located (midway) between Fort Worth and El Paso on Texas & Pacific Railway.
Midland County is included in the Midland, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the Midland–Odessa Combined Statistical Area.
In the census 2000, Midland county had 116,009 people with 129 people/sq mi. Races were 77.32% White, 6.98% Black or African American, 0.64% Native American, 0.93% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 12.17% from other races, and 1.92% from two or more races. 29.03% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
This area of Texas is very spread out, thus the county also is spread out. Median income for a family was $47,269 thus people living in poverty were less: 16.2 <18 and 7.9% age 65 years old
Highways:
- I-20
- BL I-20
- SH 137
- SH 140
- SH 158
- SH 191
- SH 349 (Nadine and Tom Craddick Highway)
- Loop 40
- Loop 250
- Loop 268
Politics -- Midland county began very Democratic in politics. Since 1952, it has voted Republican... It voted for Harry Truman, 1948, and Lyndon B Johnson won with a landslide. George W Bush received 78% of Midland county votes.[6]
Cities
Town
Ghost towns
- Dameron City
- Germania
- Pleasant
- Prairie Lee
- Slaughter
Formed From
- Tom Green County
Resources
- Oil, Spraberry Trend, the third-largest oil field in the United States by remaining reserves, underlies much of the county.
- Gas
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| West Texas pump jack near Midland. |
- Wind Turbines
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Midland County, Texas
- Gary Painter, sheriff of Midland County since 1985
Census
- 1890 --- 1,033 —
- 1900 --- 1,741 68.5%
- 1910 --- 3,464 99.0%
- 1920 --- 2,449 −29.3%
- 1930 --- 8,005 226.9%
- 1940 --- 11,721 46.4%
- 1950 --- 25,785 120.0%
- 1960 --- 67,717 162.6%
- 1970 --- 65,433 −3.4%
- 1980 --- 82,636 26.3%
- 1990 --- 106,611 29.0%
- 2000 --- 116,009 8.8%
- 2010 --- 136,872 18.0%
- Est. 2015 --- 161,077
Protected
Spraberry Trend
Cemeteries
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- Fairview Cemetery
- Resthaven Memorial Park
- Serenity Memorial Gardens
- Rose Hill Cemetery
- Sunset Memorial Gardens
Sources
- ↑ https://texasalmanac.com/index.php?q=topics/government/midland-county
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hcm12
- ↑ http://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-biggest-ranches/
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midland_County,_Texas
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midland_County,_Texas
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midland_County,_Texas
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midland_County,_Texas
- https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Midland_County,_Texas_Genealogy
- https://www.facebook.com/pages/Midland-County-Courthouse/126038937474917
- "State & County QuickFacts". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved December 22, 2013.
- http://texasalmanac.com/sites/default/files/images/topics/ctypophistweb2010.pdf
- http://www.co.midland.tx.us/Pages/HomePage.aspx
- https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hcm12
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