Stonewall 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 1,245. 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 Aspermont. The county was created in 1876 and organized in 1888. It is named for

Stonewall Jackson Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson (January 21, 1824 – May 10, 1863) was a Confederate general and military officer who served during the American Civil War. He played a prominent role in nearly all military engagements in the eastern the ...

, a general of the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the Military forces of the Confederate States, military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) duri ...

History

Stonewall County was formed in 1876 from the Young Territory. It was initially attached to Young County, Throckmorton County, and then Jones County, before finally becoming fully organized in 1889.

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the county has a total area of , of which (0.4%) are covered by water.

Geographic features

* Double Mountains, county high point and most topographically prominent point for almost * The

Brazos River The Brazos River ( , ), called the ''Río de los Brazos de Dios'' (translated as "The River of the Arms of God") by early Spanish explorers, is the 14th-longest river in the United States at from its headwater source at the head of Blackwater ...

begins in Stonewall County at the confluence of the Double Mountain Fork and

Salt Fork Brazos River The Salt Fork Brazos River is a braided, highly intermittent stream about long, heading along the edge of the Llano Estacado about east-southeast of Lubbock, Texas. From its source, it flows generally east-southeastward to join the Double Moun ...

, about west of

Jud, Texas Jud is a ghost town in extreme western Haskell County, Texas, United States. It lies on FM 617, west of Rochester. The Double Mountain Fork and Salt Fork Brazos River merge approximately west of present-day Jud to form the Brazos River ...

, now a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

. * Kiowa Peak 3 mi (4.8 km) to the west of the Brazos River

Adjacent counties

* King County (north) * Haskell County (east) * Jones County (southeast) * Fisher County (south) * Kent County (west)

Demographics

As of the 2010

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 ...

, 1,490 people, 642 households, and 426 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 928 housing units averaged . The racial makeup of the county was 87.7% White, 2.6% Black or African American, 0.5% Native American, 0.9% Asian, 6.3% from other races, and 1.9% from two or more races. About 14.0% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race. Of the 642 households, 24% had children under 18 living with them, 53% were married couples living together, 10.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.6% were not families; 15.7% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.28 and the average family size was 2.83. In the county, the population was distributed as 22.8% under 18, 6.2% from 18 to 24, 22.6% from 25 to 44, 24.5% from 45 to 64, and 24.0% who were 65 or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.0 males. For every 100 females 18 and over, there were 91.1 males. The median income for a household in the county was $27,935, and for a family was $35,571. Males had a median income of $27,083 versus $15,000 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 $16,094. About 14.80% of families and 19.30% 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 31.50% of those under 18 and 14.50% of those 65 or over.

Communities

Town

* Aspermont (county seat)

Unincorporated communities

* Old Glory *

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for two bird species of the genus '' Pavo'' and one species of the closely related genus '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred t ...

* Swenson

Ghost town

* Rath City

Transportation

Major highways

* U.S. Highway 83 * U.S. Highway 380 * State Highway 283

Air

The county is served by Stonewall County Airport, a public

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

located in Aspermont, northeast of the

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

.. Federal Aviation Administration, Effective 24 May 2018.

Politics

Whereas the counties to its north in the Panhandle proper became overwhelmingly Republican at the presidential level with

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

in the 1950s, Stonewall County continued to favor the Democratic Party for another four decades, even being narrowly won by

Walter Mondale Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale (January 5, 1928April 19, 2021) was the 42nd vice president of the United States serving from 1977 to 1981 under President Jimmy Carter. He previously served as a U.S. senator from Minnesota from 1964 to 1976. ...

in 1984 when he came within 3,819 votes of losing all fifty states. During the twentieth century the only Republican to carry Stonewall County was

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

in 1972 – it was one of the few Baptist Bible Belt counties that stayed loyal to the anti-

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

Catholic

Al Smith Alfred Emanuel Smith (December 30, 1873 – October 4, 1944) was the 42nd governor of New York, serving from 1919 to 1920 and again from 1923 to 1928. He was the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party's presidential nominee in the 1 ...

in 1928 when Texas voted Republican for the first time in its history. Like the rest of the

Bible Belt The Bible Belt is a region of the Southern United States and the Midwestern state of Missouri (which also has significant Southern influence), where evangelical Protestantism exerts a strong social and cultural influence. The region has been de ...

, due to opposition to the Democratic Party's liberal positions on social issues Stonewall County has trended powerfully Republican and in the last five elections the Republican nominee has won more than 62 percent of the vote – more than Nixon won in his 3,000-plus-county landslide in 1972. Republican Drew Springer, Jr., a businessman from

Muenster Muenster may refer to: * Münster, Germany * Muenster, Saskatchewan * Muenster, Texas Muenster ( ) is a city in western Cooke County, Texas, Cooke County, Texas, United States, along U.S. Route 82 in Texas, U.S. Route 82. The population was 1,53 ...

in Cooke County, represented Stonewall County in the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. There are no Term limits in the United States, term limits. The ...

from January 2013, and as of January 2021, represents District 30 in the

Texas Senate The Texas Senate is the upper house of the Texas Legislature, with the Texas House of Representatives functioning as the lower house. Together, they form the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the state of Texas. The Senate ...

Education

School districts include: * Aspermont Independent School District * Hamlin Independent School District * Haskell Consolidated Independent School District * Rotan Independent School District * Rule Independent School District 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 ...

designated the county as being in the Western Texas College District.

References

External links

*
Stonewall County extension profile
at

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

Stonewall County Profile from the Texas Association of Counties
{{coord, 33.18, -100.25, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-TX_source:UScensus1990 1888 establishments in Texas Populated places established in 1888