Temple, Texas

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Temple is a city in Bell County, Texas, United States. Adjacent to the county seat (Belton), Temple lies at the hub of the region referred to as Central Texas. Located off Interstate 35, Temple is 65 miles north of Austin and 34 miles south of Waco. As of the 2000 Census, the population was 54,514, but a 2006 estimate places the current population at a little over 60,000.

Temple was founded in 1881 as a railroad town. It was named in honor of Bernard Moore Temple, civil engineer and former surveyor with the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway Company that established the town. For many years it was the home of the Santa Fe Railway Company's hospital for its employees. Temple is known for its strength as a regional medical center (primarily due to the highly respected Scott & White Memorial Hospital, the largest employer in town). Temple has more physicians per capita than any other community in the nation. It is the site of one of two major campuses for the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine. Medical students spend their third and fourth years of medical school in Temple for clinical training.

Besides health services, Temple is home to many regional distribution centers and headquarters to two large, multi-national companies, Wilsonart International and McLane Company. The Temple Daily Telegram is the daily newspaper and leading source of information for Central Texans since 1907.

Contents 1 Geography 2 Demographics 3 Education 4 Transportation 5 Notables 6 External links

[edit] Geography

Temple is located at 31°5′37″N, 97°21′44″W (31.093678, -97.362202)^GR1. Its residents are within relatively short driving distances to Texas' major cities: 134 miles to Dallas, 143 miles to San Antonio, and 187 miles to Houston.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 169.5 km² (65.4 mi²). 169.3 km² (65.3 mi²) of it is land and 0.2 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (0.14%) is water.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 54,514 people, 21,543 households, and 14,110 families residing in the city. The population density was 322.1/km² (834.2/mi²). There were 23,511 housing units at an average density of 138.9/km² (359.8/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 69.76% White, 16.49% African American, 0.51% Native American, 1.53% Asian, 0.09% Pacific Islander, 9.23% from other races, and 2.39% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 17.82% of the population.

There were 21,543 households out of which 32.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.4% were married couples living together, 13.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.5% were non-families. 29.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 3.04.

In the city the population was spread out with 26.3% under the age of 18, 9.2% from 18 to 24, 28.6% from 25 to 44, 20.0% from 45 to 64, and 15.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 91.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.2 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $35,135, and the median income for a family was $42,795. Males had a median income of $30,858 versus $22,113 for females. The per capita income for the city was $19,360. About 10.8% of families and 13.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 20.0% of those under age 18 and 9.8% of those age 65 or over.

[edit] Education

The City of Temple is served by the Temple Independent School District, as well as Temple College which offers two-year Associate degrees in a variety of subjects, including popular programs in business administration, information technology and nursing.

With such a large medical community, Temple is also home to Texas A&M University's Medical School (the above mentioned Texas A&M Health Science Center). It operates in conjunction with the Scott & White Memorial Hospital and the Veteran's Hospital Center.

Adjacent Belton is home to the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor offering both Bachelor's degree and Master's degree in various fields of study. Several other regional and national universities are close by: Baylor University in Waco, University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University in College Station, and Tarleton State University—Central Texas in Killeen.

The Temple Independent School District has an award-winning public high school with rich offerings including several honors programs and diverse extra-curricular activities. In addition, Temple is also home to several first-rate private schools: Saint Mary's Catholic School (Pre K-8), Holy Trinity Catholic High School (Texas), Immanuel Lutheran (K-8) and Central Texas Christian School (K-12).

[edit] Transportation

Temple was originally founded as a railroad junction, and serves as a major freight railroad hub to this day. Both the Union Pacific Railroad and BNSF Railway have mainlines serving the city, and a BNSF rail yard and locomotive maintenance facility are located here. Amtrak also serves the city with its Texas Eagle passenger train.

Temple does not have commercial airline service, but is served indirectly by three airports:

• Austin-Bergstrom International Airport out of Austin
• Killeen-Fort Hood Regional Airport out of Killeen
• Waco Regional Airport out of Waco

[edit] Notables

Temple is the hometown of football legend Mean Joe Greene, actor Rip Torn, comedian Bill Engvall, author Bryan Burroughs and astronaut Dr. Bernard Harris.

[edit] External links

• Temple Economic Development Corp.
• VisitTemple (Tourism)
• Temple Chamber of Commerce
• City of Temple
• Temple Independent School District
• Temple College
• Temple Daily Telegram (Newspaper)
• Cultural Activities Center
• Temple Civic Theater
• Scott & White Memorial Hospital
• Veteran's Hospital Center
• Temple Health & Bioscience District 
• McLane Company
• Wilsonart Int'l.
• Sprint-Nextel
• Acer America

• Maps and aerial photos Coordinates: 31.093678° -97.362202°
  • 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