Wheeler 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 4,990. Its

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 ...

is Wheeler. The county was formed in 1876 and organized in 1879. It is named for Royall Tyler Wheeler, a chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court. Wheeler County was formerly one of 30 entirely dry counties in the state of Texas. However, ''circa'' 2010, the community of Shamrock, located in Wheeler County at the intersection of

Interstate 40 Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west transcontinental Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States, southeastern and Southwestern United States, southwestern portions of the United States. At a leng ...

and U.S. Highway 83, voted to allow liquor sales. Within the city limits of Shamrock is the only place to purchase liquor in Wheeler County. The Pioneer West Museum, the Wheeler County historical museum, is located in Shamrock off U.S. Highway 83.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which are land and (0.1%) is covered by water.

Major highways

* U.S. Highway 83 * State Highway 152 U.S. Highway 66 is no longer officially commissioned or signed, but has special brown historic signage at various points along its former routing.

Adjacent counties

* Hemphill County (north) *

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 ...

(northeast) * Beckham County, Oklahoma (east) * Collingsworth County (south) * Gray County (west) * Donley County (southwest) * Roberts County (northwest)

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, 5,284 people, 2,152 households, and 1,487 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 2,687 housing units had an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 87.83% White, 2.78% Black or African American, 0.78% Native American, 0.55% Asian, 0.08% Pacific Islander, 6.64% from other races, and 1.34% from two or more races. About 12.57% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. Of the 2,152 households, 29.6% had children under 18 living with them, 58.0% were married couples living together, 7.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.9% were not families. About 29.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.9% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.39 and the average family size was 2.94. In the county, the age distribution was 24.9% under 18, 6.50% from 18 to 24, 22.50% from 25 to 44, 25.20% from 45 to 64, and 20.90% who were 65 or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.0 males. For every 100 females 18 and over, there were 87.4 males. The median income for a household in the county was $31,029, and for a family was $36,989. Males had a median income of $26,790 versus $19,091 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 $16,083. About 11.6% of families and 13.0% 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 13.3% of those under 18 and 16.8% of those 65 or over.

Politics

Wheeler County is located in Texas House of Representatives District 88. The county was previously in District 68 from 2013 to 2023. Republican Ken King, a businessman from

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 ...

in Hemphill County, has represented Wheeler County in the Texas House of Representatives since the redistricting. The representative from 1971 to 1979 was the Democrat Phil Cates, later a lobbyist in Austin.

Geography

Major highways

Adjacent counties

Demographics

Politics

Communities

Cities

Census-designated places

Other unincorporated communities

See also

References

External links