Denver City, Texas

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Coordinates: 32°58′7″N 102°49′52″W / 32.96861, -102.83111
Denver City, Texas
Location of Denver City, Texas
Country	United States
State	Texas
Counties	Yoakum, Gaines
Area
- Total	2.5 sq mi (6.5 km²)
- Land	2.5 sq mi (6.5 km²)
- Water	0.0 sq mi (0.0 km²)
Elevation	3,573 ft (1,089 m)
Population (2000)
- Total	3,985
- Density	1,594.5/sq mi (615.6/km²)
Time zone	Central (CST) (UTC-6)
- Summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)
ZIP code	79323
Area code(s)	806
FIPS code	48-19984^[1]
GNIS feature ID	1334272^[2]

Denver City is a town in Gaines and Yoakum Counties in the U.S. state of Texas, just a short distance from the New Mexico boundary that is named for the oil company, Denver Productions. The population was 3,985 at the 2000 census.

1 Geography
2 Demographics
3 Bickley's Grocery
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Geography

Denver City is located at 32°58′7″N, 102°49′52″W (32.968580, -102.831218)^[3].

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 2.5 square miles (6.5 km²), all of it land.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^[1] of 2000, there were 3,985 people, 1,366 households, and 1,102 families residing in the town. The population density was 1,594.5 people per square mile (615.4/km²). There were 1,644 housing units at an average density of 657.8/sq mi (253.9/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 68.38% White, 1.53% African American, 0.78% Native American, 0.20% Asian, 27.60% from other races, and 1.51% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 47.15% of the population.

There were 1,366 households out of which 44.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 66.7% were married couples living together, 9.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 19.3% were non-families. 18.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.89 and the average family size was 3.29.

In the town the population was spread out with 31.4% under the age of 18, 8.9% from 18 to 24, 26.3% from 25 to 44, 21.3% from 45 to 64, and 12.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 91.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.6 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $29,418, and the median income for a family was $35,972. Males had a median income of $35,156 versus $15,476 for females. The per capita income for the town was $13,921. About 18.2% of families and 19.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 21.7% of those under age 18 and 10.3% of those age 65 or over.

[edit] Bickley's Grocery

Bickley's Grocery, owned and operated by Cecil Alonzo Bickley (1912-2004) and his wife, Peggy Patterson Bickley (1913-2007), was a popular business in Denver City from 1939 until the Bickleys retired in 1974. The Bickleys met in the oil boom town of Kilgore in east Texas but moved to Denver City, when it too was an oil boom town in far west Texas. Bickley served as a founding alderman in Denver City, having been elected to a single four-year term in 1940. He was named the "Outstanding Citizen of Denver City" in 1965.

Peggy Bickley, a native of Bernice in Union Parish, Louisiana, at first hated life in west Texas. In time, she became an energetic civic booster through the Order of the Eastern Star, the Denver City Museum, the Yoakum County/Cecil Bickley Library (named for her husband), annual American Cancer Society fund drive, the First United Methodist Church, and the Denver City Chamber of Commerce, which named her "Outstanding Citizen of Denver City" in 1984.^[4]