Silsbee is a town in Hardin County,

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 ...

, United States. This town is north of Beaumont. The population was 6,935 at the 2020 census. It is part of the

Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area The Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan statistical area is a three-county region in Southeast Texas. The metropolitan area shares borders with the Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan area to the west and the Lake Charles metropoli ...

Geography

Silsbee is located in eastern Hardin County. U.S. Route 96, a four-lane bypass, forms the southeastern border of the city; the highway leads northeast to

Jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases, is an opaque, impure variety of silica, usually red, yellow, brown or green in color; and rarely blue. The common red color is due to ...

and south to Beaumont.

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 ...

is southwest of Silsbee via Beaumont. Texas State Highway 327 runs through downtown Silsbee south of the city center, leading east to US 96 and west to Kountze, the Hardin

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 ...

. 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 ...

, Silsbee has a total area of , of which , or 0.64%, are water.

Historical development

The site of Silsbee was reached by the Gulf, Beaumont, and Kansas City Railway in 1894 and a logging camp and then a sawmill were established thereafter. The community that grew up around timber site was first called "Mill Town". The town was renamed in recognition of Nathaniel Devereux Silsbee, an investor (and grandson of Sen. Nathaniel Silsbee) from

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, who helped provide funds for the railway. The railroad was a project of John Henry Kirby, who established the Kirby Lumber Company in the city. This business was the main employer and strength of the Silsbee economy from the city's beginning.Houstonian founds Silsbee because of natural resources
, access May 5, 2007

Demographics

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 6,935 people, 2,441 households, and 1,745 families residing in the city. 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, 6,611 people, 2,520 households, and 1,763 families resided in the city. The population density was . The 2,790 housing units averaged 353.5 per square mile (136.5/km). The racial makeup of the city was 65.8% White, 30.3% African American, 0.4% Native American, 0.6% Asian, 0.015% Pacific Islander, 1.4% from other races, and 01.5% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 4.0% of the population. Of the 2,520 households, 30.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.1% were married couples living together, 18.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.0% were not families; 10.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 3.04. In the city, the population was distributed as 25.7% under the age of 18, 8.2% from 19 to 24, 23.1% from 25 to 44, 25.6% from 45 to 64, and 17.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34.7 years. Of the entire population, 45.9% were male and 54.1% were female. Of those individuals age 18 and over, 32.5% were male and 67.5% were female. The median income for a household in the city was $49,121, and for a family was $51,518. About 16.6% of the population was 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 ...

; 14.0% of families were below the poverty line, while only 3.9% of married families were in poverty. Of those age 65 or over, 4.4% were below the poverty line.

Education

The town is served by the Silsbee Independent School District, with a total of four schools—Laura Reeves Elementary (Pre-K–K), Silsbee Elementary (1–5), Edwards-Johnson Memorial Silsbee Middle School (6–8), and Silsbee High School (9–12).

Notable people

* Kalon Barnes, football player * Curtis Buckley, football player * Jefferson Fisher, lawyer and podcast host * Len Garrett, football player *

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, actor, Olympic weightlifter, wrestler * James Hunter, football player * Chloe Jones, pornographic actress * Brandi McCain, basketball player * Hannah Read, indie rock musician who performs under the stage name Lomelda * LaQuan Stallworth, basketball player * Michael Tuck, television newscaster in

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California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

References

External links

*
City of Silsbee official website

Silsbee Chamber of Commerce
* {{authority control Cities in Texas Cities in Hardin County, Texas Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area Logging communities in the United States 1894 establishments in Texas Populated places established in the 1890s