There were 7,105 housing units at an average density of 8 per square mile (3/km 2). The population density was 15 people per square mile (6/km 2). 2000 Census Īs of the census of 2000, there were 14,026 people, 5,522 households, and 3,926 families residing in the county. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH) The county is located some sixty miles north of the geographic center of Texas.ĭemographics Historical populationĢ020 census Comanche County, Texas - Demographic Profile Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 948 square miles (2,460 km 2), of which 938 square miles (2,430 km 2) is land and 9.9 square miles (26 km 2) (1.0%) is water. Īs of 1982, Comanche produced more than 45,546,000 pounds (20,659,000 kg) of peanuts, ranking second in Texas. During the 1970s, the oil industrialist Bill Noël of Odessa purchased orchards in Comanche County. Mahon and in the 1978 Republican primary against George W. He launched unsuccessful congressional campaigns in the 1976 general election against the Democrat George H. įrom 1968 to 1974, Comanche County native Jim Reese served as the mayor of Odessa, Texas. Proctor Lake was impounded in 1963 to provide flood control and drinking water. In 1951–1952, a desperate, drought-stricken county experimented with rain making. The peak year for the Comanche County oil boom was 1920. In 1907, farmers in the county began to experiment with peanut farming.
By 1890, cotton had become king in the county, but by the start of the 20th century, the boll weevil had devastated the county cotton industry for three decades. The Texas Central Railroad began service in Comanche County in 1885 and began carrying cattle and cotton to market. No report gives the date of the sign's removal. Because of the threats to its porters, the railroad asked that the sign be removed, and the town of De Leon moved it to the town well, "in the middle of Texas Avenue". Negro porters on the train would hide in the baggage car as trains passed through Comanche County. According to a 1953 study, the County took pride in and publicized its all-white population. In my days over the public well In the little railroad station, sixteen miles from Comanche, there was a villainously painted sign, which read as follows: "Niggers! Let not the sun set on you in Comanche County." Ĭomanche County was a sundown town, the only such county in the U.S. Notices have been posted in various towns of Comanche County, Texas, warning all "niggers" to leave under penalty of death, and it is fairly declared by the whites that no colored people will be allowed to live in that section. He was quickly caught and was punished in accordance with the rules of the unwritten law." Following this lynching, at a meeting of the white citizens "it was resolved to give every negro in tne county one week's notice to leave the county, and committees of men from different sections of the county were appointed to carry out the will of the white people." In 1886, "one of those too horribly frequent crimes was committed by a negro.
Known for its fertile soil, Comanche County was a hotbed of political populism in the latter years of the 19th century. He was tried in Comanche for the murder of Deputy Sheriff Charles Webb, and sentenced to 25 years in Huntsville Prison. He was arrested in 1877 by Texas Rangers and a local authority on a train in Pensacola, Florida, while traveling under the alias James W.
The mob broke into the jail and hanged his brother Joe and two cousins. A lynch mob was formed, but Hardin and his family were put into protective custody. Deputy Charles Webb drew his gun, provoking a gunfight that ended Webb's life. In 1874, John Wesley Hardin and his gang celebrated his 21st birthday in Brown and Comanche counties. Hill, worked on the newspaper while developing his esteemed career as a geologist. The Comanche Chief began publication in 1873. As of 1860, the county population was 709 persons, including 61 slaves. Cora community, named after Cora Beeman of Bell County, was designated as the county seat. In 1856, the Texas legislature formed Comanche County from Coryell and Bosque counties. Collier built the first log house in the county. in Comanche County on lands earlier granted by Mexico to Stephen F. Mercer and others organized a colony near the future settlement of Newburg. Among the first inhabitants of present-day Comanche County were the Comanche Indian tribe.