Fulton is a town in Aransas County, Texas, United States. As of the 2020 census, this South Texas coastal fishing community had a population of 1,523. The town is named for George Ware Fulton, a land developer in the area.

History

Fulton was founded in 1866, and named by George Ware Fulton, Sr., whose wife Harriet Smith Fulton inherited on the northern end of the Live Oak Peninsula, including the area where Mr. Fulton created the town he named for himself. Fulton had been a teacher in Indiana and decided to come to Texas by flatboat with 60 other men during the war for independence between Texas and Mexico. After the long trip to Texas, George Fulton found that the war was over but he joined the Army of the Republic of Texas for a few months. He worked for Henry Smith, the first Governor of Texas, and married Smith's daughter, Harriet. They raised a family and moved around the country as George found jobs supervising railroads and building bridges. When Harriet inherited 48,000 acres of the Texas coast, they moved back to live on the Live Oak Peninsula. After ten years, the Fultons built a large house, now known as the Fulton Mansion, just south of the town. The Fulton's owned thousands of cattle wandering on their extensive lands, and formed a cattle company with others. Mr. Fulton built slaughterhouses and patented a chilled slaughterhouse, the first in the world. The town quickly became the site for many slaughterhouses as cattle from south Texas were driven to Fulton. The cattle slaughterhouses lasted until the 1880s when railroads reached the area and provided ways to ship live cattle to population centers such as Chicago. In 1930, some evidence of a prehistoric settlement was found in the Fulton area, possibly Karankawan. On August 25, 2017,

Hurricane Harvey Hurricane Harvey was a devastating tropical cyclone that made landfall in Texas and Louisiana in August 2017, causing catastrophic flooding and more than 100 deaths. It is tied with 2005's Hurricane Katrina as the costliest tropical cy ...

made landfall near Fulton at category 4 intensity.

Geography

Fulton is located on the western shore of Aransas Bay. It is bordered to the south by the city of Rockport, the county seat.

Texas State Highway 35 State Highway 35 (SH 35) is a state highway near the southeastern edge of Texas, United States, that is maintained by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). It runs primarily south–north, paralleling the Gulf of Mexico for much o ...

passes through the center of the town, leading north across the inlet of Copano Bay. Corpus Christi is to the southwest, and Port Lavaca is to the northeast. 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 town has a total area of , of which is land and , or 42.77%, is water.

Climate

The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to 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, Fulton 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" on climate maps.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 1,523 people, 542 households, and 370 families residing in the town.

2000 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 2000, there were 1,553 people, 707 households, and 439 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 1,008 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 84.61%

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 ...

, 1.16%

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 ...

, 0.90% Native American, 8.89% Asian, 0.06%

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 ...

, 2.25% from other races, and 2.12% 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 11.27% of the population. There were 707 households, out of which 18.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.5% 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 ...

living together, 7.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.8% were non-families. 32.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.20 and the average family size was 2.77. In the town, the population was spread out, with 18.8% under the age of 18, 5.4% from 18 to 24, 21.3% from 25 to 44, 28.0% from 45 to 64, and 26.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 49 years. For every 100 females, there were 106.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 105.0 males. The median income for a household in the town was $26,857, and the median income for a family was $30,417. Males had a median income of $25,486 versus $18,750 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 town was $15,456. About 11.2% of families and 15.4% 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 19.8% of those under age 18 and 8.6% of those age 65 or over.

Parks and recreation

Fulton has a wooden fishing pier that extends into Aransas Bay. Rebuilt in early 2021 after being destroyed by

, the pier has fishing lights and is wheelchair accessible.Fulton Fishing Pier
/ref>

Education

All of Fulton is served by the Aransas County Independent School District. Pupils are served by the Little Bay Primary School ( Rockport, Pre-K–K), Live Oak 1–3 Learning Center (Rockport), Fulton 4–5 Learning Center (Fulton), Rockport-Fulton Middle School (Rockport), and Rockport-Fulton High School (Rockport). The town is also served by the Aransas County Public Library, located in Rockport.

References

External links

Town of Fulton official website
{{authority control Towns in Aransas County, Texas Towns in Texas Corpus Christi metropolitan area Populated coastal places in Texas