Kerr 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 on the
Edwards Plateau 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 52,598. 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
Kerrville.
The county was named by
Joshua D. Brown for his fellow
Kentucky
Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...
native,
James Kerr, a congressman of the
Republic of Texas. The Kerrville, TX
Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Kerr County.
History
Around 8000 BC, early Native American inhabitants arrived in the area, with numerous successive cultures following in
prehistoric times. Historic tribes encountered by Europeans included the
Kiowa,
Comanche, and
Lipan Apache
Lipan Apache are a band of Apache, a Southern Athabaskan languages, Southern Athabaskan Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous people, who have lived in the Oasisamerica, Southwest and Southern Plains for centuries. At the time of European ...
.
In 1842, the
Adelsverein Fisher–Miller Land Grant set aside to settle 600 families and single men of
German,
Dutch,
Swiss
Swiss most commonly refers to:
* the adjectival form of Switzerland
* Swiss people
Swiss may also refer to: Places
* Swiss, Missouri
* Swiss, North Carolina
* Swiss, West Virginia
* Swiss, Wisconsin
Other uses
* Swiss Café, an old café located ...
,
Danish,
Swedish, and
Norwegian ancestry in Texas.
Henry Francis Fisher sold his interest in the land grant to the Adelsverein in 1844.
In 1845,
Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels secured the title to of the Veramendi grant, including the Comal Springs and River, for the Adelsverein. Thousands of German immigrants were stranded at port of disembarkation,
Indianaola on
Matagorda Bay. With no food or shelter, living in holes dug into the ground, an estimated 50% died from disease or starvation.
Joshua Brown, in 1846, became the first settler.
The Texas State Convention of Germans met in San Antonio on May 14–15, 1854, and adopted a political, social, and religious platform, including: 1) Equal pay for equal work, 2) Direct election of the President of the United States, 3) Abolition of capital punishment, 4) “Slavery is an evil, the abolition of which is a requirement of democratic principles..”, 5) Free schools – including universities – supported by the state, without religious influence, and 6) Total separation of church and state. The next year, United States Army post
Camp Verde was established.
Kerr County was formed in 1856 from Bexar Land District Number 2. Joshua Brown donated the land that became Kerrville, and had it named for his friend
James Kerr.
Kerrville was named the county seat.
The
U.S. Camel Corps, headquartered at Verde, was the brainchild of
United States Secretary of War (1853–57)
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the only President of the Confederate States of America, president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the Unite ...
.
Center Point was established in 1859.
In 1860–1861, the county population was 634, including 49 slaves. The
Sons of Hermann lodge, for descendants of German heritage, was established in the county. The lodge is named for German chieftain folk hero
Hermann the Cherusker.
A bitterly divided Kerr County voted 76–57 in 1861 for
secession
Secession is the formal withdrawal of a group from a Polity, political entity. The process begins once a group proclaims an act of secession (such as a declaration of independence). A secession attempt might be violent or peaceful, but the goal i ...
from the Union, with most
German residents being against it. Unionists from Kerr,
Gillespie, and
Kendall Counties participated in the formation of the
Union League, an organization which supported
President Lincoln's policies. The Union League formed companies to protect the frontier against Indians and their families against local Confederate forces.
Conscientious objectors
A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or freedom of religion, religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for ...
to the military draft were primarily among
Tejanos and Germans. Confederate authorities imposed martial law on Central Texas. The
Nueces massacre occurred in
Kinney County.
Jacob Kuechler served as a guide for 61 conscientious objectors attempting to flee to Mexico.
Scottish-born Confederate irregular James Duff and his
Duff's Partisan Rangers pursued and overtook them at the Nueces River; 34 were killed, some executed after being taken prisoner. Jacob Kuechler survived the battle. The cruelty shocked the people of Gillespie County. About 2,000 took to the hills to escape Duff's reign of terror. Spring Creek Cemetery near
Harper in Gillespie County has a singular grave with the names Sebird Henderson, Hiram Nelson, Gus Tegener, and Frank Scott. The inscription reads, “Hanged and thrown in Spring Creek by Col. James Duff’s Confederate Regiment.”
The
Treue der Union Monument ("Loyalty to the Union") in Comfort was dedicated to the Texans slain at the Nueces massacre August 10, 1866. It is the only monument to the Union outside of the National Cemeteries on Confederate territory, and is one of only six such sites allowed to fly the United States flag at half-mast in perpetuity.
The Y O Ranch was founded in 1880 by Charles Armand Schreiner, who had opened a
store in the area in 1869.
On October 5, 1878, the last Indian raid in the county occurred at the present day community of
Mountain Home, when four children of the Dowdy family were murdered by Indian raiders.
In 1887, the
San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway was built through Kerrville. The
American Legion
The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is an Voluntary association, organization of United States, U.S. war veterans headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. It comprises U.S. state, state, Territories of the United States, U.S. terr ...
of Texas established what eventually was called the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Kerrville, in 1919.
The
Schreiner Institute was established in Kerrville from 1917 to 1923. In 1926, Ora Johnson established Camp Waldemar Christian girls camp in
Hunt.
Mooney Aircraft was established in 1929 in Kerrville.
Kerrville was begun to be called the "Mohair Capital of the World" in 1930.
The Sid Peterson Memorial Hospital was completed in 1949.
Kerrville State Hospital opened in 1951.
Geography
According to the
U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.4%) is water.
Major highways
*
Interstate 10
*
U.S. Highway 83
*
U.S. Highway 87
*
State Highway 16
*
State Highway 27
*
State Highway 39
*
State Highway 41
*
State Highway 173
Adjacent counties
*
Kimble County (north)
*
Gillespie County (northeast)
*
Kendall County (east)
*
Bandera County (south)
*
Real County (southwest)
*
Edwards County (west)
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, there were 43,653 people, 17,813 households, and 12,308 families residing 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 . There were 20,228 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 88.89%
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 ...
, 1.78%
Black
Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
or
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 ...
, 0.56%
Native American, 0.51%
Asian, 0.05%
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 ...
, 6.60% from
other races, and 1.62% from two or more races. 19.13% of the population were
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.
There were 17,813 households, out of which 25.50% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.80% were
married couples living together, 9.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.90% were non-families. 27.50% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.00% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.35 and the average family size was 2.84.
In the county, the population was spread out, with 22.70% under the age of 18, 6.70% from 18 to 24, 22.20% from 25 to 44, 23.50% from 45 to 64, and 24.90% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females there were 92.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.80 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $34,283, and the median income for a family was $40,713. Males had a median income of $27,425 versus $21,149 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 $19,767. About 10.30% of families and 14.50% 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 21.60% of those under age 18 and 8.40% of those age 65 or over.
Communities
Cities
*
Ingram
*
Kerrville (county seat)
Census-designated place
*
Center Point
Unincorporated communities
*
Camp Verde
*
Hunt
*
Mountain Home
Education
School districts include:
*
Center Point Independent School District
*
Comfort Independent School District
*
Divide Independent School District
*
Harper Independent School District
*
Hunt Independent School District
*
Ingram Independent School District
*
Kerrville Independent School District
*
Medina Independent School District
All of the county is in the service area of
Alamo Community College District.
In popular culture
* 1963 ''
Hud'' starring
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008) was an American actor, film director, race car driver, philanthropist, and activist. He was the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Paul Newman, numerous awards ...
was filmed at Camp Waldemar in
Hunt.
* 1972 The first
Kerrville Folk Festival was held.
* 1975 ''
The Great Waldo Pepper'' starring
Robert Redford was filmed in Kerrville.
* 2005 Stonehenge II, a scaled replica of the famous British attraction, was featured in the book "Weird Texas."
* 2016 TV show, ''
Lethal Weapon'',
Martin Riggs grew up in Kerr County, Texas.
Politics
Kerr County has given the majority of its votes to Republican candidates in the majority of presidential elections since 1924. The only Democratic Party candidates to carry the county since then have been
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...
, with diminishing margins in each of his four electoral victories, and Texan
Lyndon B. Johnson, winning by a narrow margin despite the
1964 election being a national
landslide victory.
See also
*
Adelsverein
*
German Texan
*
List of museums in Central Texas
*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Kerr County, Texas
*
Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks in Kerr County
*
Capt. Charles Schreiner Mansion
*
Charles Schreiner, III
*
Mo Ranch
References
External links
Kerr County Government Home Page ''Kerr County''*
Kerrville/Kerr County Local Government Wiki
{{authority control
1856 establishments in Texas
Populated places established in 1856
Texas Hill Country