| Eagle Pass, Texas | |
|---|---|
| — City — | |
| Nickname(s): El Paso del Aguila | |
| Location of Eagle Pass, Texas | |
| Coordinates: | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Texas |
| County | Maverick |
| Government | |
| • Type | Council-Manager |
| • City Council | Mayor Ramsey E. Cantu Asalia Casares Rudy Villalpando Maribel Flores Luis Sifutentes |
| • City Manager | Daniel Valenzuela |
| Area | |
| • Total | 7.4 sq mi (19.2 km2) |
| • Land | 7.4 sq mi (19.2 km2) |
| • Water | 0.0 sq mi (0.1 km2) |
| Elevation | 732 ft (223 m) |
| Population (2009) | |
| • Total | 27,183 |
| • Density | 3,030.3/sq mi (1,170.0/km2) |
| Time zone | Central (CST) (UTC-6) |
| • Summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) |
| ZIP codes | 78852-78853 |
| Area code(s) | 830 |
| FIPS code | 48-21892[1] |
| GNIS feature ID | 1356538[2] |
| Website | EaglePassTX.us/ |
Eagle Pass is a city in and the county seat of Maverick County The population was 27,183 as of the 2010 census.
Eagle Pass borders the city of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, which is to the southwest and across the Rio Grande. The Eagle Pass-Piedras Negras Metropolitan Area (EG-PN) is one of six bi-national metropolitan areas along the United States-Mexican border. As of January 2008 (United States Census, 2008), the Eagle Pass Metropolitan Area's population is 48,401 people, and the Piedras Negras Metropolitan Area's population is 169,771.
Contents |
Eagle Pass was the first United States settlement on the Rio Grande. Originally known as Camp Eagle Pass, it served as a temporary outpost for the Texas militia, which had been ordered to stop illegal trade with Mexico during the Mexican-American War.[3]
The United States Army established the presumably permanent Fort Duncan on March 27, 1849, a couple of miles upstream from Camp Eagle Pass. Captain Sidney Burbank supervised the construction of Fort Duncan, which was named after Colonel James Duncan, a hero of the Mexican War. After the Mexican-American war, trade flourished under the protection of the fort. The fort was near the trail of westward immigration to California. It also served as an outpost against hostile Apache. It was abandoned and reopened several times. In March 1860, it served as the base of operations against the border assaults arranged by Juan N. Cortina.[4]
Fort Duncan was held by the Confederacy during the American Civil War. On July 4, 1865, General Joseph O. Shelby, en route to offer his troops' service to Maximilian in Mexico, stopped at Fort Duncan and buried in the Rio Grande the last Confederate flag to have flown over his men.[3] In 1870, Colonel William R. Shafter trained Seminole and African American scouts at Fort Duncan. After several decades of deactivation, Fort Duncan was activated as a training camp during World War I. In 1938, the City of Eagle Pass acquired the fort and still operates a museum and a children's library at the site.[4]
In 1850, Rick Pawless opened a trading post called Eagle Pass. In 1871, Maverick County was established, and Eagle Pass was named the county seat. During the remainder of the 19th century schools and churches opened, the mercantile and ranching industries grew, and a railway was built.
General William Leslie Cazneau (1807–1876) founded the Eagle Pass townsite in the 1840s.[5]
Eagle Pass City Hall today is located near the base of the International Bridge. Across from City Hall is a small monument adjacent to a gazebo which commemorates the police officers of Eagle Pass and surrounding communities who have died in the line of duty. Much of the small business growth of the new century has been toward the southern portion of the city off FM 375, also known as Bibb Street.
Sportsmen enjoy fishing for the large Rio Grande catfish, Nationally known Lake Amistad in Del Rio, Texas is nearby (bassfish) and hunting for white-tailed deer and upland game birds. Eight miles south of Eagle Pass is the 125-acre (0.51 km2) reservation for the Kickapoo Indians. The tribe operates the Lucky Eagle Casino along with restaurants.[3]
United Airlines serves the Eagle Pass/ Piedras Negras, Mexico area via Del Rio International Airport in Del Rio, Texas. The airport services the Middle Rio Grande region.
The City of Eagle Pass has been sued by the U.S. government to get access to land in order to construct a fence between the United States-Mexico border.[6]
Eagle Pass is located at (28.710622, -100.489331).[7]
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 7.4 square miles (19.2 km²), of which, 7.4 square miles (19.2 km²) of it is land and 0.04 square miles (0.1 km²) of it (0.40%) is water.
As of the census[1] of 2006, there were 24,847 people, 6,925 households, and 5,588 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,030.3 people per square mile (1,169.4/km²). There were 7,613 housing units at an average density of 1,029.3 per square mile (397.2/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 72.73% White, 0.27% African American, 0.39% Native American, 0.76% Asian, 22.71% from other races, and 3.13% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 94.90% of the population.
There were 6,925 households out of which 43.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.0% were married couples living together, 18.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 19.3% were non-families. 17.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.22 and the average family size was 3.69.
In the city the population was spread out with 32.7% under the age of 18, 8.6% from 18 to 24, 25.6% from 25 to 44, 19.9% from 45 to 64, and 13.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 88.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.8 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $23,623, and the median income for a family was $27,140. Males had a median income of $26,350 versus $17,346 for females. The per capita income for the city was $11,414. About 26.0% of families and 29.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 34.0% of those under age 18 and 39.1% of those age 65 or over.
Eagle Pass lies in Maverick County in the United States. The majority of the income is attributed to dependence of the community on employment in the public sector.
Eagle Pass is served by the Eagle Pass Independent School District. The district operates fifteen elementary schools, two junior high schools and two high schools which compete in UIL academics and sports.
The community is served by branches of four-year Sul Ross University in Alpine, in the form of Rio Grande College, and Southwest Texas Junior College, a two-year community college based in Uvalde.
In 2000, as part of the power exchange between Texas and Mexico, a HVDC facility equipped with IGBTs was built. This facility, built for Central Power & Light (now AEP Texas) by the ABB Group, operates at a bipolar voltage of 15.9 kV and has a maximum transfer rate of 36 megawatts. The power station enables AEP to purchase electricity from Mexico's Comisión Federal de Electricidad, when needed. [8]
On April 24, 2007 at 7:00 p.m CST, a tornado tore through the outside of Eagle Pass and caused loss of life and property damage. The community was paralyzed for more than a week .[9]
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||