Medina 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 In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

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 50,748. 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 Hondo. The county is named for the Medina River. The extreme northern part of the county lies within the Edwards Plateau, which elevates into the

Texas Hill Country The Texas Hill Country is a geographic region of Central and South Texas, forming the southeast part of the Edwards Plateau. Given its location, climate, terrain, and vegetation, the Hill Country can be considered the border between the Ame ...

. The Medina Dam, the fourth-largest in the nation when completed in 1913, is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. The

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...

project, creating Medina Lake, was built by 1500 skilled workers who worked in shifts operating 24 hours a day to complete the dam in two years. Medina County is part of the

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

, TX metropolitan statistical area.

History

The county is named after the Medina River, which was named in 1689 after Spanish cartographer Pedro de Medina by Spanish explorer Alonso de Leon, the first European to encounter the river. Because Pedro de Medina derived his surname from the Andalusian city of Medina-Sidonia, the name Medina comes from the

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

for city. The

Texas Legislature The Texas State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Texas. It is a bicameral body composed of a 31-member Senate and a 150-member House of Representatives. The state legislature meets at the Capitol in Austin. It is a p ...

formed Medina County on February 12, 1848, and enlarged it on February 1, 1850, using land taken from Bexar County. Castroville was the county seat, and the county erected the first permanent courthouse there in 1854. The county seat moved to Hondo in 1892, and a new courthouse was completed there in 1893.

Texas-Indian Wars

The county was home to tribes such as the

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 ...

Coahuiltecan The Coahuiltecan were various small, autonomous bands of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Native Americans who inhabited the Rio Grande valley in what is now northeastern Mexico and southern Texas. The various Coahuiltecan groups were hunter ga ...

, and

Tonkawa The Tonkawa are a Native American tribe from Oklahoma and Texas. Their Tonkawa language, now extinct language, extinct, is a linguistic isolate. Today, Tonkawa people are enrolled in the Federally recognized tribes, federally recognized Tonkawa ...

. The county was subject to frequent

Comanche The Comanche (), or Nʉmʉnʉʉ (, 'the people'), are a Tribe (Native American), Native American tribe from the Great Plains, Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the List of federally recognized tri ...

and

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 ...

raids during the 1860s and 1870s. On a June 11, 1873 raid, Comanches attacked four settlers near Hondo. These raids were feared by the local residents, but by 1875, the raiding had stopped. Although the Comanche were gone, other tribes still were raiding the county frequently. The last Indian raid of the county happened on April 22, 1877, when 19-year-old Joe Wilton was killed by Indians near Devine, Texas.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which (0.7%) are covered by water.

Major highways

Interstate 35 Interstate 35 (I-35) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route. It stretches from Laredo, Texas, near the Mexican bo ...

* U.S. Highway 90 * State Highway 16 * State Highway 132 * State Highway 173

Adjacent counties

* Bandera County (north) * Bexar County (east) * Atascosa County (southeast) * Frio County (south) * Uvalde 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, 39,304 people, 12,880 households, and 10,136 families were 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 . The 14,826 housing units had an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 79.38% White, 2.20% Black or African American, 0.68% Native American, 0.33% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 14.48% from other races, and 2.88% from two or more races. About 45.47% of the population were Hispanics or Latinos of any race. Of the 12,880 households, 39.1% had children under 18 living with them, 63.2% were married couples living together, 11.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 21.30% were not families. About 18.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.2% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.91 and the average family size was 3.30. In the county, the age distribution was 29.0% under 18, 8.4% from 18 to 24, 28.7% from 25 to 44, 21.5% from 45 to 64, and 12.4% who were 65 or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 105.60 males. For every 100 females 18 and over, there were 104.90 males. The median income for a household in the county was $36,063, and for a family was $40,288. Males had a median income of $27,045 versus $21,734 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 $15,210. About 12.00% of families and 15.40% 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 19.80% of those under age 18 and 15.60% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

Cities

* Castroville * Devine * Hondo (county seat) * LaCoste * Lytle (mostly in Atascosa County and a small part in Bexar County) * Natalia *

(mostly in Bexar County and a small part in Comal County)

Census-designated places

* D'Hanis * Lake Medina Shores (partly in Bandera County) * Yancey

Unincorporated communities

* Dunlay *

Mico Mico may refer to: People * Mićo Janić (born 1979), Croatian sprint canoer * Mićo Ljubibratić (1839–1889), Serbian revolutionary * Mico Palanca (1978–2019), Filipino actor * Mićo Smiljanić (born 1974), Serbian/Montenegrin footballer * Mi ...

* Pearson * Rio Medina

Ghost towns

* New Fountain * Quihi

Education

School districts include: * D'Hanis Independent School District * Devine Independent School District * Hondo Independent School District * Lytle Independent School District * Medina Valley Independent School District * Natalia Independent School District * Northside Independent School District * Utopia Independent School District The designated community college is Southwest Texas Junior College.Texas Education Code: Sec. 130.200. SOUTHWEST TEXAS JUNIOR COLLEGE DISTRICT SERVICE AREA.
/ref>

Gallery

Image:Hondo Creek, Medina County, TX IMG_3309.JPG, Hondo Creek is located south of Hondo. Image:Entrance to Hondo Creek Ranch, Medina County, TX IMG_3312.JPG, Entrance to Hondo Creek Ranch Image:Medina County, TX, Museum IMG_3302.JPG, The Medina County Museum is located off U.S. Route 90 in Hondo. Image:Medina County, TX, Jail IMG_3298.JPG, The Medina County Jail Image:Medina, TX, Electric Cooperative IMG_3299.JPG, Medina Electric Cooperative in Hondo Image:Scorched corn fields, Castroville, TX, 2011 IMG_3231.JPG, Scorched cornfield in Castroville Image:Medina Valley United Methodist Church, Castroville, TX IMG 3236.JPG, Medina Valley United Methodist Church in Castroville

Politics

References

External links

''Medina County Profile'' from the Texas Association of Counties
{{authority control 1848 establishments in Texas Populated places established in 1848 Greater San Antonio Majority-minority counties in Texas