Hemphill County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

located in the U.S. state of

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. As of the 2020 census, its population was 3,382. The

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

and only incorporated community in the county is the city of

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

. The county was created in 1876 and organized in 1887. It is named for John Hemphill, a judge and Confederate congressman. Hemphill County is the most recent Texas county to permit alcohol sales.

History

Early history

For the 200 years leading up to 1875, nomadic Indian tribes representing the

Apache The Apache ( ) are several Southern Athabaskan language-speaking peoples of the Southwestern United States, Southwest, the Southern Plains and Northern Mexico. They are linguistically related to the Navajo. They migrated from the Athabascan ho ...

, Comanche,

Kiowa Kiowa ( ) or Cáuigú () people are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribe and an Indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colora ...

, and others roamed the Panhandle following the huge

bison A bison (: bison) is a large bovine in the genus ''Bison'' (from Greek, meaning 'wild ox') within the tribe Bovini. Two extant taxon, extant and numerous extinction, extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American ...

(buffalo) herds. In search for an alternate route to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

through

Santa Fe, New Mexico Santa Fe ( ; , literal translation, lit. "Holy Faith") is the capital city, capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Santa Fe County. With over 89,000 residents, Santa Fe is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, fourt ...

, Josiah Gregg (1840), and Captain Randolph B. Marcy (1845) surveyed trails that crossed Hemphill County, following the south bank of the Canadian River. The 1874–75 Red River War was an effort by the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

to force the Indians of the Southern Plains to move to

Indian Territory Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United States, ...

in present-day Oklahoma. Two major battles took place in what would become Hemphill County - the Battle of Lyman's Wagon Train and the Battle of Buffalo Wallow. On April 12, 1879, Wheeler County became the first organized county in the Panhandle, with 14 other unorganized counties attached to it, one of which was Hemphill County. Hemphill County was organized in July 1887.

Influence of Santa Fe Railroad

In 1886, the Southern Kansas Railway Company, a Santa Fe subsidiary, began to build a rail line into the Panhandle of Texas. The tracks entered Hemphill County during 1887 and further encouraged settlement in the area, creating three town sites: Mendota, Canadian, and Glazier. In 1907, Canadian was designated a division point by the Santa Fe, a factor that brought diversification to the previously ranching economy of the area. The Santa Fe influence remained very strong until the mid-1950s, when the railway moved its employees to Amarillo. Meanwhile, Hemphill County was roughly the midway point of two smaller lines, the Clinton and Oklahoma Western Railroad Company and the Clinton-Oklahoma-Western Railroad Company of Texas.

Oil production

During the 1970s, the county grew due to a rapid expansion of oil production. Though oil was discovered in the county in 1955, production remained relatively small because the technology had not yet progressed to efficiently capture the very deep reserves known to exist. By 1974, oil production had reached and more than in 1978. In 2000, about of oil and more than 8 billion cubic feet of natural gas were produced in the county, but the future looked very bright.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which (0.6%) are covered by water.

Major highways

* U.S. Highway 60 * U.S. Highway 83 * State Highway 33

Adjacent counties

* Lipscomb County (north) * Ellis County, Oklahoma (northeast) *

Roger Mills County, Oklahoma Roger Mills County is a County (United States), county located in the western part of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 3,442, making it the fourth-least populous county in Oklahoma ...

(southeast) * Wheeler County (south) * Roberts County (west) * Gray County (southwest)

National protected area

* Black Kettle National Grassland (part)

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, 3,351 people, 1,280 households, and 948 families resided in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . The 1,548 housing units averaged . The racial makeup of the county was 87.65% White, 1.55% Black or African American, 0.72% Native American, 0.27% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 8.48% from other races, and 1.31% from two or more races. About 15.6% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. Of the 1,280 households, 32.7% had children under 18 living with them, 65.2% were married couples living together, 5.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.9% were not families. About 24.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.0% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.50 and the average family size was 2.98. In the county, the population was distributed as 28.0% under 18, 6.5% from 18 to 24, 25.3% from 25 to 44, 25.4% from 45 to 64, and 14.7% who were 65 or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 101.3 males. For every 100 females 18 and over, there were 92.2 males. The median income for a household in the county was $35,456, and for a family was $42,036. Males had a median income of $31,154 versus $19,423 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the county was $16,929. About 10.90% of families and 12.60% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 16.70% of those under age 18 and 12.80% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

(county seat) * Glazier

Politics

During the period

1912 This year is notable for Sinking of the Titanic, the sinking of the ''Titanic'', which occurred on April 15. In Albania, this leap year runs with only 353 days as the country achieved switching from the Julian to Gregorian Calendar by skippin ...

through the 1940s, Democratic candidates at the presidential level predominated in Hemphill County, the exception being

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly demonstrating that DNA is the genetic material. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris B ...

. From

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

, Republicans have held sway, losing the county only in the 1964 landslide by native son

Lyndon Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after assassination of John F. Kennedy, the assassination of John F. Ken ...

References

External links

*
Canadian Chamber of Commerce

Hemphill County Profile from the Texas Association of Counties

River Valley Pioneer Museum

The Citadelle Art Foundation

Canadian Independent School District

The Canadian Record
{{authority control 1887 establishments in Texas Populated places established in 1887 Texas Panhandle