Guadalupe County, Texas

Guadalupe County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. In 2000, its population was 89,023. It is named for the Guadalupe River. The seat of the county is Seguin^[1].

Guadalupe County is part of the San Antonio Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

Indigenous paleo-Indian hunter-gatherers were the first inhabitants of the area. Later Indian tribes settled in the area, including Tonkawa, Karankawa, Kickapoo, Lipan Apache, and Comanche.^[2]

In 1689, Alonso de Leon named the Guadalupe River for Spain in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

In 1806, French army officer José de la Baume, who later joined the Spanish army, was rewarded for his services to Spain with title to 27,000 acres of Texas land, the original El Capote Ranch. The grant was reaffirmed by the Republic of Mexico.^[3]

Following Mexico's independence from Spain, Anglos from the North settled in Texas in 1821 and claimed Mexican citizenship. In 1825, Guadalupe County was part of Green DeWitt's petition for a land grant to establish a colony in Texas, which was approved by the Mexican government.

Following Texas's independence from Mexico (1836), Seguin was founded as Walnut Springs in 1838. The name was changed to Seguin the next year to honor Juan Nepomuceno Seguín.^[4][5] In 1840, Virginian Michael Erskine acquired the El Capote Ranch for use as a cattle ranch. In 1842, the Republic of Texas organized Guadalupe County as a judicial county. The Texas Supreme Court declared judicial counties to be unconstitutional. In 1845, Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels secured title to 1,265 acres of the Veramendi grant.

Following the annexation of Texas by the United States (1845), Prussian immigrant August Wilhelm Schumann arrived on the Texas coast aboard the SS Franziska in 1846 and purchased 188 acres in Guadalupe County. Shortly thereafter, the state legislature established the present county from parts of Bexar and Gonzales counties.

In 1846, during the war between the United States and Mexico, a wagon train of German settlers bought Guadalupe land from August Schumann. The following year the town of Schumannsville was established by German immigrants and named after August Schumann.^[6] The last Indian raid into the area was made by the Kickapoo in 1855.

By 1860, there were 1,748 slaves in the county. In 1861, the people of the county voted 314•22 in favor of secession from the Union. Guadalupe County sent several troups to fight for the Confederate States Army. Following the end of the Civil War and the emancipation of the slaves (1865), a Freedmen's Bureau office opened in 1866 in Seguin to supervise work contracts between former slaves and area farmers.^[7]

By 1877, the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway reached Seguin and was completed to as far as San Antonio.

By 1880, Germans accounted for 40 percent of the county population. Tenant farming and sharecropping accounted for the operation of 25 percent of the county's farms. By 1910, immigrants from Mexico accounted for 11½ percent of the country’s population. In 1929, oil was discovered at the Darst Creek oilfield.^[8] By 1930, tenant farming and sharecropping comprised 64 percent of the county's farms. By 1982, professional and related services, manufacturing, and wholesale and retail trade involved nearly 60 percent of the work force in the area.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 714 square miles (1,850 km²), of which, 711 square miles (1,842 km²) of it is land and 3 square miles (8 km²) of it (0.42%) is water.

Major highways

• Interstate 10
• Interstate 35
• U.S. Highway 90
• U.S. Highway 90 Alternate
• State Highway 46
• State Highway 123

Adjacent counties

• Hays County (north)
• Caldwell County (northeast)
• Gonzales County (southeast)
• Wilson County (south)
• Bexar County (southwest)
• Comal County (northwest)

Demographics

As of the census^[9] of 2000, there were 89,023 people, 30,900 households, and 23,823 families residing in the county. The population density was 125 people per square mile (48/km²). There were 33,585 housing units at an average density of 47 per square mile (18/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 77.65% White, 5.01% Black or African American, 0.55% Native American, 0.87% Asian, 0.10% Pacific Islander, 12.76% from other races, and 3.07% from two or more races. 33.21% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 30,900 households out of which 38.30% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.60% were married couples living together, 11.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.90% were non-families. 18.90% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.60% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.83 and the average family size was 3.23.

In the county, the population was spread out with 28.50% under the age of 18, 9.00% from 18 to 24, 29.10% from 25 to 44, 22.20% from 45 to 64, and 11.30% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 97.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.30 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $43,949, and the median income for a family was $49,645. Males had a median income of $32,450 versus $23,811 for females. The per capita income for the county was $18,430. About 7.30% of families and 9.80% of the population were below the poverty line, including 13.30% of those under age 18 and 9.50% of those age 65 or over.

In 2010 Guadalupe County was ranked number 86 on The Daily Caller's list of American's 100 most conservative-friendly counties. ^[10]

Cities and towns

• Cibolo
• Geronimo
• Kingsbury
• Marion
• McQueeney
• New Berlin
• New Braunfels
• Northcliff
• Redwood
• Santa Clara
• Schertz
• Seguin
• Staples
• Zuehl

References

1. ^ . National Association of Counties. . Retrieved 2008-01-31.
2. ^ Handbook of Texas, Guadalupe County [1]
3. ^ Texas Historical Marker, El Capote Ranch [2]
4. ^ Texas Escapes, Seguin [3]
5. ^ Seguin Descendants Historical Preservation [4]
6. ^ TexGenWeb Schumannsville [5]
7. ^ Handbook of Texas, Freedmen’s Bureau [6]
8. ^ Handbook of Texas, Darst Creek Oilfiend [7]
9. ^ "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. http://factfinder.census.gov. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
10. ^ Palko, Chris (March 19, 2010). "America’s top 20 conservative-friendly counties". The Daily Caller. http://dailycaller.com/2010/03/19/americas-top-20-conservative-friendly-counties/2/. Retrieved 19 March 2010

External links

• Guadalupe County government's website
• Guadalupe County from the Handbook of Texas Online

Coordinates: 29°35′N 97°57′W / 29.58°N 97.95°W

Categories: Texas counties | Guadalupe County, Texas | San Antonio metropolitan area | Guadalupe River (Texas) f="http://wikimediafoundation.org/">