Webb County, Texas

Webb County, Texas

The Webb County Courthouse in Laredo

Seal
Map of Texas highlighting Webb County
Location in the state of Texas
Map of the United States highlighting Texas
Texas's location in the U.S.
Founded 1848
Seat Laredo
Largest city Laredo
Area
 • Total 3,376 sq mi (8,744 km2)
 • Land 3,361 sq mi (8,705 km2)
 • Water 14 sq mi (36 km2), 0.4%
Population
 • (2010) 250,304
 • Density 74/sq mi (29/km²)
Congressional district 28th
Time zone Central: UTC-6/-5
Website webbcounty.com
The Texas tourism travel station is located at the intersection of Interstate 35 and U.S. Route 83 north of Laredo, Texas.
Typical Webb County ranch road north of Texas State Highway 359 (2012)

Webb County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, the population was 250,304.[1] Its county seat is Laredo.[2] The county was named after James Webb,[3] who served as Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of State, and Attorney General of the Republic of Texas, and later judge of the United States District Court following the admission of Texas to statehood. By area, Webb County is the largest county in South Texas and one of the largest in the state.

Webb County comprises the Laredo metropolitan area.

History

Webb County was split in 1856. Encinal County was established on February 1, 1856, and was to have consisted of the eastern portion of Webb County. However, Encinal County was never organized and was finally dissolved on March 12, 1899, and the territory in question returned to Webb County.

Much of Webb County history is based on the prevalence of ranching in the 19th century and continuing thereafter. The Webb County Heritage Foundation is a nonprofit organization that seeks to preserve documents and artifacts of the past to guarantee that the regional history is not lost to upcoming generations. In 2015, the foundation, headed by President James E. Moore, presented Heritage Awards to such local notables as the artist Janet Krueger, the journalist Maria Eugenia Guerra, and the Laredo Community College art instructor Martha F. Fenstermaker (1943-2014).[4]

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 3,376 square miles (8,740 km2), of which 3,361 square miles (8,700 km2) is land and 14 square miles (36 km2) (0.4%) is covered by water.[5]

Major highways

Adjacent counties and municipalities

Demographics

Historical population
Census Pop. %±
18601,397—
18702,61587.2%
18805,273101.6%
189014,842181.5%
190021,85147.2%
191022,5033.0%
192029,15229.5%
193042,12844.5%
194045,9169.0%
195056,14122.3%
196064,79115.4%
197072,85912.5%
198099,25836.2%
1990133,23934.2%
2000193,11744.9%
2010250,30429.6%
Est. 2014266,673[6]6.5%
U.S. Decennial Census[7]
1850–2010[8] 2010–2014[1]

As of the census[9] of 2000, 193,117 people, 50,740 households, and 43,433 families resided in the county. The county gained 57,000 additional residents between 2000 and 2010. The population density was 58 people per square mile (22/km²). The 55,206 housing units averaged 16 per square mile (6/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 82.16% White, 0.37% Black or African American, 0.47% Native American, 0.43% Asian, 0.02% acific Islander, 14.00% from other races, and 2.54% from two or more races. About 94% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race.

Of the 50,740 households, 53.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.60% were married couples living together, 18.30% had a female householder with no husband present, and 14.40% were not families; 12.40% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.75 and the average family size was 4.10.

In the county, the population was distributed as 36.20% under the age of 18, 11.40% from 18 to 24, 29.30% from 25 to 44, 15.60% from 45 to 64, and 7.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 26 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.90 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $28,100, and for a family was $29,394. Males had a median income of $23,618 versus $19,018 for females. The per capita income for the county was $10,759. About 26.70% of families and 31.20% of the population were below the poverty line, including 39.40% of those under age 18 and 26.90% of those age 65 or over.

Government

Like all Texas counties, Webb County is governed by four part-time county commissioners paid $76,220 annually and elected by single-member districts of equivalent population and a county-wide county judge, who is the full-time administrator of the county. The current county judge, Danny Valdez, left the position after two terms on December 31, 2014, and was succeeded by Tano Tijerina, a former professional baseball player and local rancher and businessman. Valdez narrowly defeat Tijerina in 2010,[10] but Tijerina rebounded with a 65 to 35% victory over Valdez in the Democratic primary election held on March 4, 2014.[11]

Commissioners

Precinct 1

Precinct 1, from south Webb County, Francisco J. "Frank" Sciaraffa (born 1972) was returned to the commission in a special election held on November 4, 2014, in conjunction with the regular general elections held across Texas and the nation. He succeeded Linda Ramirez, an interim appointee who had been selected by presiding Judge David Peeples, a Republican of the Texas 4th Administrative Judicial Region, a 22-county area in and around San Antonio.[12] Sciaraffa has invited Anna Laura Cavazos Ramirez, the former county attorney, to become his administrative aide.[13]

Precinct 2

Precinct 2, Rosaura Palacios Tijerina, known as "Wawi" Tijerina, was elected in 2006, 2010, and on March 4, 2014. In her last two Democratic primary contests, she defeated former commissioner Judith Gutierrez. A graduate of the Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University in Houston, Tijerina was from 1998 to 2002 the elected part-time Laredo city judge and from 1989 to 2008 an instructor of criminal justice at Laredo Community College, from which she received an associate degree in 1978. She is also a practicing attorney in Laredo. Her Precinct 2 includes a part of mid-Laredo and also encompasses the largest rural areas of Webb County: Aguilares, Mirando City, Oilton, and Bruni. Tijerina's husband, Omar Tijerina, Sr.,[14] is an uncle of incoming Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina, under whom she will serve beginning on January 1, 2015.

Precinct 3

Precinct 3, John Clifford Galo, was first elected in 2012 to succeed Jerry Garza, who ran unsuccessfully for the Texas House of Representatives against Tracy King in House District 80 and in 2014 was an unsuccessful candidate for mayor of Laredo, having been defeated by Pete Saenz. Galo is a former two-term member of the Laredo City Council and an unsuccessful candidate for mayor in the 2006 election; he was defeated by Raúl González Salinas, Saenz's predecessor.[15] In 2014, Salinas lost a bid for Webb County treasurer against the three-term incumbent Delia Perales. Salinas was succeeded on November 12, 2014, as mayor by Pete Saenz, a former member and president of the trustees of Laredo Community College.

Precinct 4

Precinct 4, Jaime Alberto Canales, was first elected in 2010. A former science educator and school principal,[16] Canales won his runoff election for a second term as commissioner on May 27, 2014. He defeated fellow Democrat Jose Valdez, Jr., a former member of the Laredo City Council. In a low-turnout contest, Canales polled 1,963 votes (53.8%); Valdez, 1,683 (46.2%).[17] In the March 4 primary election, Canales garnered 46%; Valdez, 30%.[18]

Justice of the Peace

Ricardo Rangel was from 2002 to 2014 the justice of the peace for Precinct 2, Place 2. He won the March 4, 2014, Democratic primary for a fourth term. On September 4, 2014, Rangel pleaded guilty to an extortion charge before Judge Diana Saldaña of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas. He has since entered an alcohol rehabilitation unit in Houston.

Politics

Webb County is overwhelmingly Democratic and has voted for that party's electors since 1916 (the last Republican being incumbent President William Howard Taft in 1912). Although Texas as a whole voted for Republican nominee John McCain in the 2008 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama won 33,435 votes (71%) of the ballots in Webb County. McCain was a distant second in Webb County with 13,111 votes (28%). Obama fared better than Democrat John Kerry had done in 2004. Latinos in Texas gave Obama 63% of their ballots, whereas Kerry had polled 50% among that group in Texas. In Webb County, Kerry received 23,654 (57%) to George W. Bush's 17,753 (42%). Nearly 57,000 registered voters in Webb County did not cast ballots in the 2008 presidential election.

In 2012, despite the continuing statewide Republican trend, Webb County rebuffed Mitt Romney and cast an even larger percentage of its vote for President Obama than it had done in 2008. Webb County also voted in 2008 and 2012 for the Democratic nominees for the United States Senate, State Representative Rick Noriega of Houston, who failed to unseat Republican incumbent John Cornyn, and then Paul Sadler, a former state representative from Henderson, who lost to Republican nominee Ted Cruz for the right to succeed the retiring Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Because of the heavy Democrat allegiance in Webb County, Republicans virtually never offer candidates for county office. In the March 4, 2014, primary, 1,151 (4.6%) voted in the Republican primary in Webb County, compared to 23,958 (95.4%) in the Democratic contests.[19] Webb County elections administrator Carlos Villarreal reported a 24% turnout in the November 4, 2014, general election in Webb County. County officials have requested that Villarreal develop a plan to increase turnout for 2016. County Democrat Chairman Alberto Torres, Jr., suggested improvements in the election division website with clear maps of voter boundaries. Torres said that such better services might motivate persons to vote regularly.[20]

Education

Three school districts serve Webb County:

Prior to 1994, Webb CISD served only Bruni and Oilton. Mirando City Independent School District served the community of Mirando City from 1923 to 2005. Prior to 1994, all Mirando City children attended Mirando City ISD schools. After the spring of 1994, Mirando City High School closed.[21] Therefore, from the fall of 1994 to July 1, 2005, WCISD served high schoolers from Mirando City, while Mirando Elementary School in the Mirando City ISD served pupils from kindergarten through eighth grade. On May 9, 2005, the Texas Education Agency ordered the closure of Mirando City ISD. The district closed on July 1, 2005, and all students were rezoned to Webb CISD schools.[22]

The private Holding Institute is a former United Methodist boarding school operating as a downtown Laredo community center.

Communities

Cities

Census-designated places

Unincorporated communities

Source: Webb County Planning and Physical Development Department[23]

  • Aguilares
  • Antonio Santos Colonia
  • Cactus
  • Callaghan
  • Colorado Acres Colonia
  • D-5 Acres Colonia
  • Darwin
  • Del Mar East
  • Gate Acres Colonia
  • El Cenizo
  • Fort McIntosh
  • Four Points Colonia
  • Hillside Acres Number 1 Colonia
  • Hillside Acres Number 2 Colonia
  • Islitas
  • La Coma Colonia
  • La Moca Ranch Colonia
  • La Presa
  • Laredo Ranchettes
  • Larga Vista
  • Las Blancas Colonia
  • Las Pilas Colonia Number 1
  • Las Pilas Colonia Number 2
  • Las Tiendas
  • Los Altos Colonia
  • Los Corralitos Colonia
  • Los Huisaches Colonia
  • Los Huisaches Number 2 Colonia
  • Los Minerales Colonia
  • Los Ojuelos
  • Los Veteranos 59 Colonia
  • Los Veteranos 83 Colonia
  • Minera
  • Mirando City
  • Nye
  • Old Milwaukee East
  • Old Milwaukee West
  • One River Place Colonia
  • Orvil
  • Palafox
  • Pescadito
  • Pueblo East Colonia
  • Pueblo Nuevo
  • Pueblo Nuevo Colonia
  • Ranchitos 359 East Colonia
  • Ranchitos Las Lomas
  • Ranchitos los Arcos Colonia
  • Ranchitos los Centenarios Colonia
  • Ranchitos los Fresnos Colonia
  • Ranchitos los Mesquites Colonia
  • Ranchitos los Nopalitos Colonia
  • Ranchitos los Veteranos Colonia
  • Ranchos Penitas West
  • Regency Village Colonia
  • Rio Bravo
  • Rodriguez Addition Colonia
  • San Carlos Number 1 Colonia
  • San Carlos Number 2 Colonia
  • San Pablo
  • San Ramon
  • Santo Tomas
  • Sunset Acres Colonia
  • Tanquecitos South Acres Colonia
  • Valle Verde Colonia
  • Village East Colonia
  • Webb

Gallery

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "State & County QuickFacts". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
  2. ↑ "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Retrieved 2011-06-07.
  3. ↑ Find A Grave, James Webb
  4. ↑ Gabriel A. Trevino, "Preservation of history", Laredo Morning Times, May 24, 2015, pp. 1, 17A
  5. ↑ "2010 Census Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. August 22, 2012. Retrieved May 12, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2014". Retrieved June 4, 2015.
  7. ↑ "U.S. Decennial Census". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved May 12, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Texas Almanac: Population History of Counties from 1850–2010" (PDF). Texas Almanac. Retrieved May 12, 2015.
  9. ↑ "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  10. ↑ Zach Lindsey, "Webb County Judge: Valdez emerges victorious, Laredo Morning Times, April 14, 2010, p. 1
  11. ↑ "Final primary election results released". Laredo Morning Times. Retrieved March 5, 2014.
  12. ↑ "Judge picks teacher: Linda Ramirez named temp. Pct.1 commissioner, Laredo Morning Times, May 3, 2014, p. 1
  13. ↑ "New Precinct 1 team: Sciaraffa wants Cavazos Ramirez as aide", Laredo Morning Times, November 24, 2014, p. 1
  14. ↑ "Biographical History". webbcountytx.gov. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  15. ↑ Laredo Morning Times, June 18, 2006, p. 1
  16. ↑ "Jaime Canales". webbcountytx.gov. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  17. ↑ Phillip Balli, "Jaime Canales wins Pct. 4 runoff," Laredo Morning Times, May 28, 2014, p. 1
  18. ↑ "Early voting begins today in runoffs,", Laredo Morning Times, May 19, 2014, p. 1
  19. ↑ "2014 Democratic and Republican Party Primary Election Returns for Webb County". Texas Secretary of State. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  20. ↑ Kendra Ablaza, "Elections office revamp", Laredo Morning Times, March 27, 2015, pp. 1, 11A
  21. ↑ Mirando City, Texas from the Handbook of Texas Online
  22. ↑ Bogan, Jesse. "A school district counts its final days." San Antonio Express-News. May 9, 2005. 01A. Retrieved on April 11, 2009.
  23. ↑ Webb County Planning and Physical Development Department Geographic Information Systems

Further reading

External links

 Maverick County Dimmit County and La Salle County
Anáhuac, Nuevo León, Mexico; Hidalgo, Coahuila, Mexico; and Guerrero, Coahuila, Mexico Duval County
   Webb County, Texas  
Guerrero, Tamaulipas, Mexico and Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico Zapata County Jim Hogg County

Coordinates: 27°46′N 99°20′W / 27.77°N 99.33°W / 27.77; -99.33

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