Huntsville, Texas

Huntsville is a city in and the county seat of Walker County, Texas, United States.^[3] The population was 35,078 at the 2000 census. It is the center of the Huntsville micropolitan area.

Huntsville is located in the East Texas Piney Woods on the Interstate 45 corridor between Houston and Dallas. Huntsville is home to Sam Houston State University, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Huntsville State Park, the HEARTS Veterans Museum of Texas, located on Texas State Highway 75 at Interstate 45, and the Texas Prison Museum, also on Texas State Highway 75 near Interstate 45. Huntsville served as the residence of Sam Houston, who is recognized in Huntsville by the Sam Houston Memorial Museum and a statue on Interstate 45. Huntsville has headquarters of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) and several prisons operated by the department. The Huntsville Prison, one of the TDCJ units, has the execution chamber of the state of Texas.

In reference to its prison, "Huntsville" is the title and subject of a country music song by Merle Haggard, on the album Someday We'll Look Back.

History

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 in Madison County, Alabama. (Incidentally, "Madison County" is also the name of an adjacent Texas county.)

Huntsville became the home of Sam Houston, who served as President of the Republic of Texas, Governor of the State of Texas, Governor of Tennessee, U.S. Senator, and Tennessee congressman. General Houston led the Texas Army in the Battle of San Jacinto - the decisive victory of the Texas Revolution. Houston has been noted for his life among the Cherokees of Tennessee, and - near the end of his life - for his opposition to the American Civil War, a position which was a very unpopular in his day. Located in Huntsville are two of Houston's homes, his grave, and the Sam Houston Memorial Museum. Houston's life in Huntsville is also commemorated by his namesake Sam Houston State University, and by a 67 ft (20 m)^[4] statue. (The towering statue, "Tribute to Courage" by artist David Adickes, has been described as the world's largest statue of an American hero, and is easily viewed by travelers on Interstate 45.)

Huntsville was also the home of Samuel Walker Houston (1864•1945),^[5] a prominent African-American pioneer in the field of education. He was born into slavery on February 12, 1864 to Joshua Houston, a slave owned by Sam Houston. Samuel W. Houston founded the Galilee Community School in 1907, which later became known as the Houstonian Normal and Industrial Institute, in Walker County, Texas.

In 1995, on the grounds of the old Samuel W. Houston Elementary School, the Huntsville Independent School District, along with the Huntsville Arts Commission^[6] and the high school's Ex-Students Association, commissioned the creation of The Dreamers, a monument to underscore the contributions made by the black community in the growth and development of Huntsville and Walker County.

Geography

Huntsville is located at 30°42′41″N 95°32′54″W / 30.71139°N 95.54833°W (30.711254, -95.548373).^[7]

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 31.2 square miles (80.9 km²), of which, 30.9 square miles (80.0 km²) of it is land and 0.3 square miles (0.9 km²) of it (1.09%) is water.

Government and infrastructure

Huntsville has the headquarters of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), the Texas agency that operates state correctional facilities for adults.^[8][9] Several TDCJ prisons for men, including the Byrd Unit,^[10] the Goree Unit,^[11] the Huntsville Unit,^[12] and the Wynne Unit, are in the Huntsville city limits.^[13] The TDCJ Central Region Warehouse and Huntsville Prison Store are located in the TDCJ headquarters complex.^[14][15] The Food Service Warehouse is behind the Wynne Unit.^[16] The TDCJ operates the Huntsville District Parole Office in Huntsville.^[17]

The Huntsville Unit houses the State of Texas execution chamber. The male death row is not in Huntsville, but in the Polunsky Unit in West Livingston, Texas;^[18][19] the female death row is located at the Mountain View Unit in Gatesville, Texas.^[18]

The United States Postal Service operates the Huntsville Post Office and the Downtown Huntsville Post Office.^[20][21]

Transportation

Greyhound Lines operates the Huntsville Station in Huntsville.^[22] As of 2001 many former prisoners released from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice system use the station to travel to their final destinations.^[8]

Education

The City of Huntsville is served by the Huntsville Independent School District.

The city has Sam Houston State University. It also served as the first location for Austin College.^{[citation needed]}

The 7,000 square feet (650 m²) Huntsville Public Library opened on Sunday September 24, 1967 after the group "Friends for a Huntsville Public Library" had campaigned for the opening of a public library.^[23]

Footnotes

1. ^ "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. http://factfinder.census.gov. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
2. ^ "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. 2007-10-25. http://geonames.usgs.gov. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
3. ^ . National Association of Counties. . Retrieved 2008-01-31.
4. ^ Huntville Statue & Visitors Center, www.samhoustonstatue.org. Retrieved 2010-02-09.
5. ^ Handbook of Texas Online accessed 2007-04-29.
6. ^ Art Tour of Huntsville accessed 2007-04-29.
7. ^ "US Gazetteer files: 2000 and 1990". United States Census Bureau. 2005-05-03. http://www.census.gov/geo/www/gazetteer/gazette.html. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
8. ^ ^{a b} "Huntsville Prison Blues." National Public Radio. September 10, 2001. Retrieved on December 2, 2009.
9. ^ "LIVINGSTON NAMED EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF STATE’S CRIMINAL JUSTICE AGENCY." Texas Department of Criminal Justice. July 28, 2005. Retrieved on December 2, 2009.
10. ^ "Byrd Unit." Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on May 10, 2010.
11. ^ "Goree Unit." Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on May 10, 2010.
12. ^ "Huntsville Unit." Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on May 10, 2010.
13. ^ "Wynne Unit." Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on May 10, 2010.
14. ^ "Central Region Warehouse." Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on May 22, 2010.
15. ^ "Huntsville Prison Store." Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on May 22, 2010.
16. ^ "Food Service Warehouse." Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on May 22, 2010.
17. ^ "Parole Division Region I." Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on May 15, 2010.
18. ^ ^{a b} "Death Tow Facts." Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on May 7, 2010.
19. ^ "West Livingston CDP, Texas." U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on May 9, 2010.
20. ^ "Post Office™ Location - HUNTSVILLE." United States Postal Service. Retrieved on May 15, 2010.
21. ^ "Post Office™ Location - DOWNTOWN HUNTSVILLE." United States Postal Service. Retrieved on May 15, 2010.
22. ^ "Huntsville Station." Greyhound Lines. Retrieved on May 7, 2010.
23. ^ "About the Library." Huntsville Public Library. Retrieved on May 30, 2010.

References

• Allan Turner (1995-02-05). "A Wall of Hope: Sculpture puts human faces on legacy of black school". The Houston Chronicle, State section: p. 1.
• "One man's trash ... by Kate Murphy, The New York Times, September 2, 2009. Retrieved 2009-09-08. Regarding Dan Phillips building low-income housing largely out of recycled materials since 1997.

Watch

• NBC Nightly News: Dan Phillips

External links

• City of Huntsville
• Discover Huntsville
• Texas Prison Museum
• Sam Houston Memorial Museum

Categories: Walker County, Texas | Cities in Texas | County seats in Texas | Micropolitan areas of Texas