Santa Fe () is a city in Galveston County, Texas, United States. It is named for the

Santa Fe Railroad The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the largest Class 1 railroads in the United States between 1859 and 1996. The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport; at variou ...

(now part of

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three Transcontinental railroad, transcontine ...

) which runs through the town alongside State Highway 6. The population of Santa Fe at the 2020 census was 12,735.

History

In 1877, the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway was built through the western part of Galveston county. By the turn of the century, three small, unincorporated towns had formed along the railway: Alta Loma, Arcadia, and Algoa. The Santa Fe Independent School District which was named after the railway, was established shortly afterward to serve the area. In the mid-1970s, the neighboring city of Hitchcock attempted to annex an area in eastern Alta Loma known as the Morningview neighborhood. Amid intense opposition to becoming part of Hitchcock, residents began a petitioning effort to incorporate the area into a new city. On January 21, 1978, a ballot proposal to incorporate Alta Loma and parts of Arcadia passed by a wide margin and the city of Santa Fe was born. Santa Fe has since grown to include all of Arcadia and parts of Algoa, and ironically is now twice the size of Hitchcock. On February 14, 1981, the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to KKK or Klan, is an American Protestant-led Christian terrorism, Christian extremist, white supremacist, Right-wing terrorism, far-right hate group. It was founded in 1865 during Reconstruction era, ...

hosted a fish fry on a private farm in Santa Fe to protest the growing presence of Vietnamese shrimpers in the Gulf. During the event, a Vietnamese fishing boat was ceremonially burned.Claudia Kolker, San Francisco Chronicle, 11 September 2000, URL: http://www.sfgate.com:80/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/09/11/MN95611.DTLStill Shrimping: Vietnamese American shrimpers 25 years after the second wave , AsianWeek
/ref> The controversy and similar conflicts in nearby port towns like Rockport, led to a decision of the United States District Court, S.D. Texas, Houston Division '' Vietnamese Fishermen's Association v. Knights of the Ku Klux Klan'', and also was the basis of the story for the 1985 Ed Harris film '' Alamo Bay''. On June 19, 2000, the Supreme Court ruled that the Santa Fe Independent School District's policy of permitting "student-led, student-initiated" prayer at football games and other school events violated the Constitution's prohibitions against the establishment of state religion. On the morning of May 18, 2018, a school shooting occurred at Santa Fe High School when 17-year-old student Dimitrios Pagourtzis opened fire in an art classroom, killing ten students including Sabika Sheikh, 17 (an exchange student from Pakistan) and faculty and injuring thirteen others. Students and faculty evacuated the building when a fire alarm was activated. Pagourtzis surrendered after being injured in an exchange of gunfire with school officers. Originally scheduled to stand trial in January 2020 for ten counts of

capital murder Capital murder refers to a category of murder in some parts of the US for which the perpetrator is eligible for the death penalty. In its original sense, capital murder was a statutory offence of aggravated murder in Great Britain, Northern Irela ...

, Pagourtzis has been in custody at a state mental hospital since being found unfit to stand trial in November 2019. File:Santa Fe Consolidated High School - Santa Fe, Texas.jpg, Old High School Now on the National Register of Historical Places File:Hitchcock Depot -- Santa Fe (Alta Loma) , Texas.jpg, Hitchcock Depot–Santa Fe (Alta Loma)–a Recorded Texas Landmark File:Santa Fe Texas City Hall.png, Santa Fe City Hall File:Miller-Brautigam Home -- Santa Fe, Texas.jpg, Miller-Brautigam Home–a Recorded Texas Landmark File:Reclining-Buddha at Linh Son Buddhist Temple -- Santa Fe, Texas.jpg, Reclining Buddha at Linh Son Buddhist Temple, Santa Fe, Texas

Geography and climate

Santa Fe is located at (29.380651, –95.104163) on a low coastal plain that averages between and above sea level. The primary waterways are Highland Bayou and Halls Bayou, which both flow southeastward and empty into West Bay. Being prone to

flash flood A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice and snow. Flash f ...

ing, the area is lined with numerous drainage ditches, culverts, diversionary canals and reservoirs. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the city has a total area of , of which is land and , or 1.10%, is water. It is south of

downtown Houston Downtown is the largest central business district in the city of Houston and the largest in the state of Texas, located near the geographic center of the metropolitan area at the confluence of Interstate 10 in Texas, Interstate 10, Interstate 45 ...

and northwest of

Galveston Galveston ( ) is a Gulf Coast of the United States, coastal resort town, resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island (Texas), Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a pop ...

. In 2019 Skip Hollandworth of ''

Texas Monthly ''Texas Monthly'' (stylized as ''TexasMonthly'') is a monthly American magazine headquartered in Downtown Austin, Texas. Founded in 1973 by Michael R. Levy, ''Texas Monthly'' chronicles life in contemporary Texas, writing on politics, the Natura ...

'' wrote that Santa Fe "still feels very much like a small town" despite that distance. Santa Fe has a climate of hot, humid summers and cool, mild winters. Average annual temperature is 68.6 degrees F with 56.5 inches of annual rainfall. Santa Fe averages 71.7 days above 90 degrees F. In the

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

system, Santa Fe has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

, abbreviated "Cfa."

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 12,735 people, 4,744 households, and 3,449 families residing in the city.

2010 census

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 2010, there were 12,222 people and 4,564 households residing in the city. The population density was . There were 4,957 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 93.8%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.4%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.5% Native American, 0.5% Asian, 0.1%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 3.3% from other races, and 1.5% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 11.6% of the population. There were 4,583 households, out of which 36.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.7% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

, 12.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.7% were non-families. Among all households, 27.0% were made up of individuals, and 19.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.67 and the average family size was 3.03. In the city, the population was spread out, with 27.2% under the age of 20, 5.2% from 20 to 24, 23.9% from 25 to 44, 29.6% from 45 to 64, and 14.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40.5 years. For every 100 females, there were 99.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.2 males. The median income for a household in the city was $60,797, and the median income for a family was $69,841. Males had a median income of $57,619 versus $36,445 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 city was $27,863. About 7.3% of families and 9.5% 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 12.3% of those under age 18 and 5.7% of those age 65 or over.

Government and infrastructure

Santa Fe City Hall is located at 12002 Highway 6. The city council consists of a mayor and five councilmembers. The Santa Fe Post Office is located at 13002 Highway 6. The Santa Fe Justice Center is located at 3650 FM 646 N.

Education

Secondary schools

Santa Fe is part of the service district for College of the Mainland, a public community college away in Texas City. Also Alvin Community College is away in Alvin.

Public schools

The city is served by the Santa Fe Independent School District. The schools in the city include: * R.J. Wollam Elementary School (Pre-K through 5) * Dan J. Kubacak Elementary (Pre-K through 5; formerly Santa Fe Elementary North) * Barnett Elementary (Pre-K through 5; newest school in the city) * Santa Fe Junior High School (6–8) * Santa Fe High School (9–12)

Public libraries

The Mae S. Bruce Library at 13302 6th Street was given to the city by Mae S. Bruce. The Santa Fe Community Library opened inside a former

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

army barracks in 1975. By 2011 the barracks became overwhelmed by the library's increasing size. A group of residents established a building committee; with Moody Foundation and Kempner Fund grants and donations from the community they purchased a metal portable building on land leased from the Santa Fe Independent School District. The portable library was across from the barracks and by Highway 6. After the library continued to grow, Mae S. Bruce presented a brick structure to the city in 1987. The library moved to the structure and it was renamed after Bruce.About the Mae S. Bruce Library!
Mae S. Bruce Library. Retrieved on December 6, 2008.

Transportation

Airports in unincorporated areas near Santa Fe include: * Creasy Airport * Varnell Heliport Airports with scheduled commercial airline service for the area, located in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, are William P. Hobby Airport and

George Bush Intercontinental Airport George Bush Intercontinental Airport is an international airport in Houston, Texas, United States, serving the Greater Houston metropolitan area. Initially named Houston Intercontinental Airport upon its opening in 1969, it was renamed in ho ...

. Scholes International Airport in nearby Galveston is available for general aviation and non-scheduled commercial service.

Culture

Citing '' Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe'', in 2019 Skip Hollandworth described Santa Fe as "a deeply conservative community".

Notable people

* D. L. Lang, American poet who lived in Santa Fe as a child. * Johnny Lee, Country music star best known for his 1980 hit single " Lookin' for Love"; was raised on a dairy farm in Santa Fe (then part of Alta Loma) and graduated from Santa Fe High School in 1964.

Notes

Explanatory notes

Citations

External links

City of Santa Fe official website
* {{Authority control Cities in Galveston County, Texas Cities in Texas Greater Houston