Lake Jackson, Texas

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Lake Jackson is a city in Brazoria County, Texas within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown Metropolitan Area. As of the 2004 U.S. Census, the city population was 27,022.

Lake Jackson is named after an oxbow lake of the same name on the outskirts of town. The lake in turn was named after the family whose antebellum plantation house sat alongside the lake; only very minor ruins of the building can now be seen in a park at the site. The city is the birthplace of famous Tejano singer Selena.

Contents 1 Geography 2 Demographics 3 History 3.1 Streets 4 Education 5 External links

[edit] Geography

Lake Jackson is located at 29°2′13″N, 95°26′18″W (29.036837, -95.438339)^GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 51.3 km² (19.8 mi²). 49.3 km² (19.0 mi²) of it is land and 2.0 km² (0.8 mi²) of it (3.84%) is water.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 26,386 people, 9,588 households, and 7,344 families residing in the city. The population density was 535.1/km² (1,386.0/mi²). There were 10,475 housing units at an average density of 212.4/km² (550.2/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 86.24% White, 3.88% African American, 0.39% Native American, 2.50% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 5.19% from other races, and 1.79% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 14.70% of the population.

There were 9,588 households out of which 42.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 64.7% were married couples living together, 8.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.4% were non-families. 20.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.74 and the average family size was 3.18.

In the city the population was spread out with 30.6% under the age of 18, 7.6% from 18 to 24, 30.2% from 25 to 44, 21.7% from 45 to 64, and 9.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 95.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.3 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $60,901, and the median income for a family was $69,053. Males had a median income of $60,143 versus $30,398 for females. The per capita income for the city was $25,877. About 5.4% of families and 6.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.5% of those under age 18 and 6.7% of those age 65 or over.

[edit] History

The city was built in the early 1940s as a planned community in support of a new plant of the Dow Chemical Company. The City of Lake Jackson was incorporated March 14, 1944, and voted for home rule ten years later in 1954.

[edit] Streets

The layout of the streets in Lake Jackson was the whimsical vision of Alden B. Dow, the city’s original planner. In order to keep Lake Jackson from simply being another boring company town, Dow designed an unusual plan for the streets:

• All streets radiating from downtown end in the word “Way”. Among the streets are Center Way, Winding Way, and Parking Way. There is even an intersection of two streets named “This Way” and “That Way”.
• Most other streets not ending in “Way” were named after some form of flora. As the city grew and common names such as Pine, Mulberry, and Oak were taken, developers had to become more creative; thus, among the plants used were Jalapeño, Tangarine, Mango, and Habanero. Most of the tree names are the more main streets. The flowers came next, then the more exotic. There are few exceptions to the flora street names other than the Ways. These are the highways running through Lake Jackson (288 & 332) and Oyster Creek Drive.
• To further add charm, Dow intentionally laid out the streets so that they seldom follow straight paths. The streets, even main thoroughfares, twist and wind so much that in many areas of town one can travel in any of the four compass directions and have the same commute time and distance to a destination across town. Part of the basis for the winding streets was Dow's insistence that as few trees as possible should be removed in construction of the original street layout (which is still in practice today with the building of new subdivisions). Lake Jackson is listed on the Arbor Day Foundation's Tree City USA list. Also, many of the streets follow Oyster Creek, which twists and winds through town.

[edit] Education

The public schools in the city are operated by Brazosport Independent School District.

K-4 elementary schools within Lake Jackson include:

• O.M. Roberts Elementary School
• A.P. Beutel Elementary School
• Bess Brannen Elementary School
• Elisabet Ney Elementary School

Residents are zoned to:

• Grady B. Rasco Middle School (5-6)
• Lake Jackson Intermediate School (7-8)
• Brazoswood High School (9-12, in Clute)

Brazosport College is a public community college which was recently upgraded to offer a baccalaureate degree in certain technical fields.

The Lake Jackson Library is a part of the Brazoria County Library System.

[edit] External links

• Lake Jackson's Official Web Site
• Brazosport College's Official Web Site
• Maps and aerial photos Coordinates: 29.036837° -95.438339°
  • Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
  • Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
  • Topographic map from TopoZone
  • Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA

	Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown METROPOLITAN AREA
Counties	Austin | Brazoria | Chambers | Fort Bend | Galveston | Harris | Liberty | Montgomery | San Jacinto | Waller
"Principal" cities	Houston | Sugar Land | Baytown | Galveston
Cities and towns	Alvin | Angleton | Bellaire | Cleveland | Clute | Conroe | Dayton | Deer Park | Dickinson | Fairchilds | Freeport | Friendswood | Galena Park | Hitchcock | Humble | Jacinto City | Jersey Village | Katy | Lake Jackson | La Marque | La Porte | League City | Liberty | Missouri City | Pasadena | Pearland | Richmond | Rosenberg | Santa Fe | Seabrook | Sealy | South Houston | Stafford | Texas City | Tomball | Webster | West University Place
Unincorporated areas	Atascocita | Channelview | Cloverleaf | Cypress | Klein | Spring | The Woodlands