Valley View, Texas

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Valley View is a town in Cooke County, Texas, United States. The population was 737 at the 2000 census.

1 History
2 Geography
3 Demographics
4 Education
5 External links

[edit] History

The town was first settled in 1870 by the Lee family. L. W. Lee plotted a town on his land in 1872, naming it Valley View, presumably for the view offered at the site of Spring Creek valley. Eighteen families moved in, and a post office opened in the community that same year.

A blacksmith shop was opened in 1873, and the shop was used for the community's first school. By 1884 the town had an estimated 250 inhabitants, three steam gristmills and cotton gins, and three general stores and shipped cotton, livestock, and wheat. The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway (now the BNSF Railway) reached the town in 1886. Valley View had four church buildings and a hotel by 1890, and the Valley View Independent School District was incorporated in 1902. In 1903 the town witnessed dramatic growth with the completion of a two-story brick school house and six brick business buildings, the arrival of telephone service, and the opening of a bank. The following year the Valley View News began publishing weekly. The community had an estimated population of 600 by 1914.

Two fires struck the town in 1924. In the fall the east side of the town square was burned down. On the morning of December 19 bank robbers started a second fire as they robbed the First National Bank of $5,000. A further two city blocks were destroyed. Valley View's population was estimated at 700 from the 1920s through the mid-1960s. In 1970 it was 805, but the town declined during the next decade. When Valley View formally incorporated in 1980, it had 514 inhabitants and six businesses. The town began to grow again in the 1980s and had a population of 640 in 1990.

[edit] Geography

Valley View is located at 33°29′37″N, 97°9′52″W (33.493656, -97.164403)^GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 6.0 km² (2.3 mi²), all land.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 737 people, 270 households, and 216 families residing in the town. The population density was 123.2/km² (319.0/mi²). There were 292 housing units at an average density of 48.8/km² (126.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the town was 97.01% White, 0.27% African American, 0.14% Native American, 0.81% Asian, 1.22% from other races, and 0.54% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.39% of the population.

There were 270 households out of which 38.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.6% were married couples living together, 14.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.0% were non-families. 17.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.73 and the average family size was 3.10.

In the town the population was spread out with 29.7% under the age of 18, 8.0% from 18 to 24, 30.0% from 25 to 44, 21.8% from 45 to 64, and 10.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 91.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.3 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $48,500, and the median income for a family was $51,875. Males had a median income of $39,167 versus $24,107 for females. The per capita income for the town was $18,204. About 7.9% of families and 10.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.4% of those under age 18 and 4.3% of those age 65 or over.