Coryell County was created in 1854
and formed from Bell and McLennan Counties. Coryell County was named for James Coryell, a frontiersman who was killed by Native Americans. The County Seat is Gatesville. The Official County website is located at http://www.co.coryell.tx.us. See also Extended History for more historical details.
Coryell County courthouse: Noted for the design of a number of Central Texas courthouses such as those in Hood, Denton, and Hill counties, architect W.C. Dodson modified the traditional cross-axial plan to allow the erection of a central tower in the Coryell County Courthouse. By moving the district courtroom to a position along side the tower rather one centered under it, he was able to extend masonry support walls to the ground and support a heavy structure--as opposed to a light wooden work supported on trusses over the court space.
The Coryell Temple of justice also marks something of a departure from yet another convention of Texas courthouse architecture in which entrances in four relatively uniform facades give equal prominence to each of the commercial blocks surrounding the square. In spite of the presence of entrances in each facade the dominant architectural treatment of the south side suggests one major entrance. The north side has secondary dominance and the east and west entrances, identical in composition, have tertiary importance. In later years the main street shifted to the north side of the square and the north entrance became predominant. The south portico has paired corner columns while the north has single columns; also the openings flanking the central arch are smaller on the north.
Among the most remarkable features of the building is the composition of the interior spaces. Two central corridors passing through the building intersect on right angles under a rotund. Located in the corridor just inside the prominent south entrance, a wide stair leads to a wide second floor landing, thence onward to the center where the floor plan enlarges and encompasses the rotunda openings, providing it an excellent progression of spaces terminating at the spacious district courtroom.
The form of this courtroom is the basis for a unique composition of forms. Built in oval form at the request of the county commissioners it is strongly expressed on the northeast and northwest with curved forms. On the north side of the building, the district judge's office and a circular stair are contained within separate towers located adjacent to a portico which is similar to but smaller than the south portico.
On the ground level, this oval form contains the county courtroom on the west side of a bisecting corridor, and sheriff's office and office of the county clerk on the north side. Typical of many courthouses, spaces for the grand jury and district clerk were located on the second level. The third story--the level of the district courtroom balcony- contained rooms for jury's and office space.
Much of Dodson's work was Romanesque in character with elements of either The Second Empire or Classical style. The Coryell County Courthouse is of the latter type, firmly based in the round arches.
The Coryell County Courthouse has local historical importance and regional architectural significance. It has been the center of governmental activities since its completion and, continues to serve these functions. It was designed by a prominent Texas architect and has no counterpart in the state. Comprised of curved and rectangular forms, and incorporating a combination of Romanesque and Classical details, as well as polychromatic materials, the edifice is one of the most interesting and charming nineteenth-century courthouses in the Southwest.
Coryell County, named for James Coryell, an early explorer of the region, was organized in 1854. Gatesville, the county seat, grew up around Fort Gates, established in 1849 to protect settlers from marauding Indians. After the incorporation of the county, public business was for a time conducted from rented offices and commercial buildings. Land for a courthouse square was acquired and a one-story framed structure was constructed in 1865 on a corner presently occupied by a city filling station. In 1872, a two-story structure of native white limestone was erected on this property and served as a focus of county business for the next twenty five years. The second courthouse, built at a cost of $11,000 had four rooms defined by intersecting main halls on the first floor with jury and courtrooms above.
On May 15, 1897, architect W.C. Dodson was commissioned to draw plans and specifications for a third courthouse at a contract price of three and half percent of the total building cost. The only stipulations imposed on the architect were that the building have a cupola on top with a Seth Thomas Clock and a bell of not less than 800 pounds, and that the building be roofed in metal with the dome on the cupola in clad copper. In addition, there were to be dual statues of Liberty and Justice at the north and south entrances.
On October 2, 1897, a hollow cornerstone was laid with full Masonic ritual. The stone was placed on the northeast corner of the building; its orientation, was, in ceremonial usage, symbolic of light. It was positioned at the accompaniment of music and after suitable orations was sprinkled with corn, wine and oil, emblematic of plenty health and peace. It was blue-gray granite weighing 1,825 pounds. Among the inscriptions on its surface were the dates Anno Domini and the Masonic Anno Lucia. Inside was a box of articles representative of the character of the period. Included were a photo of the old courthouse, two boxes of medicine, a copy of the Dallas Morning News, an 1897 five- cent piece, a bottle of whiskey and a list of Women's Christian Temperance Union officers along with a Columbian half dollar and Masonic Lodge Bible.
The courthouse was completed on July 18, 1898, at a cost of $73,649.69 by contractor Thomas Lovell. Constructed of native limestone and red sandstone, the blocks were cut to size at the quarry and hauled to the site by horse drawn wagons. The courthouse today continues to serve its original function.
PLEASE READ!! Please call the clerk's department to confirm hours, mailing address, fees and other specifics before visiting or requesting information because of sometimes changing contact information.
Coryell County Clerk has Court Records from 1856, Land Records from 1854, Probate Records from 1854 , Marriage Records from 1854 and Birth/Death Records from 1903 is located at P.O.
Box 237,
Gatesville, TX 76528-0237; Telephone:
(254) 865-5016 . The County Clerk's Office is the record keeper of the county. The county records include birth certificates, death certificates, marriage licenses, brand registrations, DD214s (military discharges), land / real estate / property records, probate and civil filings.
Below is a list of online resources for Coryell County Court Records. Email us with websites containing Coryell County Court Records by clicking the link below:
Texas Immigration & Emigration Records - Immigration records help the family historian to understand the movements of their ancestry as they relocated to different parts of the world.
Click Here to Search Texas Birth, Marriage & Death Records! - Birth, marriage, and death records are connected with central life events. They are prime sources for genealogical information. Look also for baptism, christening, and burial records in this collection.
Vital Records,1100 West 49th Street,
Austin, TX 78756, Please allow up to approximately 6-8 weeks for processing of all type of certificates when ordered through the mail. They have the following records:
Birth Certificates: Birth records maintained by Bureau of Vital Statistics, Dept. of Health since 1903 through the present. For births that occurred within the past 75 years, copies can be requested only by the immediate family of the person whose name is on the birth certificate.
Cost: The cost of a birth record is $22.00. If no record is found or no copy is made, state law requires that we keep $22.00 for a searching fee. Please do not send cash in the mail.
Processing Time: 6-8 weeks when ordered by MAIL or 2-5 Days when you order ELECTRONICALLY
Death Certificates: Death records maintained by Bureau of Vital Statistics, Dept. of Health since 1903 through the present.
For deaths that occurred in the past 25 years, copies can be requested only by immediate family members of the deceased.
Cost: The cost of a certified death certificate is $20.00 for the first copy and $3.00 for each additional copy issued at the same time for the same certificate. If no record is found or no copy is made, state law requires that we keep $20.00 for a searching fee. Please do not send cash in the mail.
Processing Time: 6-8 weeks when ordered by MAIL or 2-5 Days when you order ELECTRONICALLY
Marriage & Divorce Certificates: Marriage Verifications from Jan 1966 and Divorce Verifications from Jan 1968. Certified copies of marriage licenses or divorce decrees are only available from the county clerk (marriage) or district clerk (divorce) in the county or district in which the event occurred. Marriage verification or divorce verification letters can now be ordered ELECTRONICALLY
Cost: $20 - Fee is for verification only.
Processing Time: 6-8 weeks when ordered by MAIL or 2-5 Days when you order ELECTRONICALLY
Order Online: You can also order Order Electronically and get the certificates within 2-5 days by ordering below
Order In Person: The certificates may be ordered by coming into this office. If you want the copy the same day, our hours for same day service are 8:00 A.M. until 5:00 P.M. Monday – Friday. The Texas Vital Statistics Office in Austin is located at 1100 W. 49th Street,
Austin, TX 78756.
Order By Mail: Mail a check or money order (no cash) payable to the "Texas Vital Records " along with the necessary information to the following address: Texas Vital Records, Department of State Health Services, PO Box 12040,
Austin TX 78711-2040. Please include return address on envelope and application form.
Search the Social Security Death Index for FREE - Search over 82 million death records and get genealogical information crucial to your family research. New content added weekly! Most comprehensive SSDI site online!
Research Death records In The World's Largest Newspaper Archive at NewpaperArchive.com! - Find thousands of historical Texas newspaper articles about deaths. Search for local articles about an old family friend that died many years ago or a celebrity that committed suicide. Historical newspapers contain a wealth of information about the deceased.
Texas Birth Certificates, 1903-10, 1926-29 - Browse by county, then year, then surname, beginning with the first letters of the last name of the person you seek. If you're unsure of the year or location, use the search box under the browse menu. These records can be searched by father's first and last names, mother's first and maiden names, year, county, and city. The certificates include the child and parents' full names, residence, occupations, age, time and date of the birth, and the name of the physician attending the birth.
Texas Death Certificates, 1890-1976 - These records are searchable by first and last name of the deceased, year, county, and city. A certificate may include the decedent's date, place, and cause of death; age; date of birth; last residence; and marital status. If known, it will also include occupation, birth place, parents' names, and place of burial. Browse by county, then year, then surname, beginning with the first letters of the last name of the person you seek. If unsure of the year or location, use the search box under the browse menu.
Click Here to Search Texas Voter Lists & Census Records! - Few, if any, records reveal as many details about individuals and families as do government census records. Substitute records can be used when the official census is unavailable.
Countywide Records: Federal Population Schedules that exist for Coryell County, Texas are 1860, 1870, 1880, 1890 (fragment, see below), 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930. The Texas State Library holds microfilm editions for all of Texas' federal censuses. Although the 1850, 1860, and part of the 1870 mortality schedules have been published, all the original mortality schedules are at the Texas State Library and on microfilm The 1830 territorial census of Miller County, Arkansas, enumerates an area that is in today's Texas boundaries. The remaining 1890 population schedules which exist for Texas include: Ellis County (Justice Precinct 6, Mountain Peak, and Ovilla Precinct); Hood County (Precinct 5); Rusk County (No. 6 and Justice Precinct No. 7); Trinity County (town of Trinity and Justice Precinct 2); and Kaufman County (Kaufman). Although Greer County in present-day Oklahoma functioned as part of Texas between 1886 and 1896, the 1890 census for this county was enumerated under Oklahoma Territory.
Other Federal Schedules to look at when researching your family tree in Coryell County, Texas are Industry and Agriculture Schedules availible for the years 1860, 1870 and 1880. Slave Schedules exist for 1860. The Mortality Schedules for the years 1860, 1870 and 1880. There are free downloadable and printable Census forms to help with your research. These include U.S. Census Extraction Forms and U.K. Census Extraction Forms
Below is a list of online resources for Coryell County Census Records. Email us with websites containing Coryell County Census Records by clicking the link below:
Genealogy Atlas has images of old American atlases during the years 1795, 1814, 1822, 1823, 1836, 1838, 1845, 1856, 1866, 1879 and 1897 for Arkansas and other states.
You can view rotating animated maps for Texas showing all the county boundaries for each census year overlayed with past and present maps so you can see the changes in county boundaries. You can view a list of maps for other states at Census Maps
You can view rotating animated maps for Texas showing all the county boundary changes for each year overlayed with past and present maps so you can see the changes in county boundaries. You can view a list of maps for other states and State Department of Transportation Maps at County Maps.
Below is a list of online resources for Coryell County Maps. Email us with websites containing Coryell County Maps by clicking the link below:
Click Here to Search Texas Military Records! - Military and civil service records provide unique facts and insights into the lives of men and women who have served their country at home and abroad.
The uses and value of military records in genealogical research for ancestors who were veterans are obvious, but military records can also be important to re-searchers whose direct ancestors were not soldiers in any war. The fathers, grandfathers, brothers, and other close relatives of an ancestor may have served in a war, and their service or pension records could contain information that will assist in further identifying the family of primary interest. Due to the amount of genealogical information contained in some military pension files, they should never be overlooked during the research process. Those records not containing specific genealogical information are of historic value and should be included in any overall research design.
Below is a list of online resources for Coryell County Military Records. Email us with websites containing Coryell County Military Records by clicking the link below:
Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783 (The National Archives): View, Print Copy & Save Original Documents in NARA publication M246 include muster rolls, payrolls, strength returns, and other miscellaneous personnel, pay, and supply records of American Army units, 1775-83.
Southern Claims Commission from the State of Texas (The National Archives): View, Print Copy & Save Original Documents In the 1870s, southerners claimed compensation from the U.S. government for items used by the Union Army, ranging from corn and horses, to trees and church buildings.
Texas tax records constitute one of the most complete sets of available records generated at the county level (by the Commissioners Court) because these documents are maintained by the state. These lists may only include approximately sixty percent of eligible males over the age of twenty-one. Persons exempted from taxes included native Americans, "idiots," "incompetents," and those exempted because of age. This final category of exemptions varied over time. Years without an older age exemption were 1840 and 1862-70. Between 1841-44 exemptions began at forty-five years; in 1845 and from 1850-61 the upward age was set at fifty years. In 1837, 1848, and 1849 the limit was established as fifty-five, and in 1846-7, and 1871 the upward limit was set at sixty years.
Texas Ad Valorem (poll, personal, and real property) tax records for 1836 through 1976 are available in microfilm at the Texas State Library from the date of respective county organization; these are arranged by county and date and are somewhat alphabetized within each division. Microfilm copies are housed in the Genealogy Section. Tax lists for the various counties from creation to 1901 may be borrowed through interlibrary loan. Tax records through 1901-1947 are readily accessible, but not on interlibrary loan. Those for 1948 through 1976 can be obtained upon request.
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The Repositories
in this section are Archives, Libraries, Museums, Genealogical
and Historical Societies. Many County Historical and Genealogical
Societies publish magazines and/or news letters on a monthly,
quarterly, bi-annual or annual basis. Contacting the local societies
should not be over looked. State Archives and Societies are
usually much larger and better organized with much larger archived
materials than their smaller county cousins but they can be
more generalized and over look the smaller details that local
societies tend to have. Libraries can also be a good place to
look for local information. Some libraries have a genealogy
section and may have some resources that are not located at
archives or societies. Also, take a special look at any museums
in the area. They sometimes have photos and items from years
gone by as well as information of a genealogical interest. All
these places are vitally important to the family genealogist
and must not be passed over.
Below is a list of online resources for Coryell County Genealogical Addresses. Email us with websites containing Coryell County Genealogical Addresses by clicking the link below:
Coryell County Genealogical Society,
811 Main Street,
Gatesville 76528
Texas State Library and Archives Commission, P.O. Box 12927, Austin, TX 78711-2927 Holdings under the auspices of the Texas State Library are divided. Most important for genealogical research are the Texas State Archives with its Local Records Department, the Records Management Division, and the Information Services Division, which includes a Genealogy Section and a Reference Department.
The Genealogy Section maintains vertical ties that contain notes, clippings, pamphlets, and correspondence on Texas families. These files may be accessed in person, by phone (512-463-5463, forty-five minute limit), or through correspondence.
Texas Historical Commision The Texas Historical Commission (THC) is the state agency for historic preservation. THC staff consults with citizens and organizations to preserve Texas' architectural, archeological and cultural landmarks. The agency is recognized nationally for its preservation programs.
Texas Newspapers & Periodicals Records - Newspapers and periodicals are the diaries of local communities. They are excellent sources of family history details - often recorded nowhere else. Look for obituaries, marriages, legal notices, and more found in our Historical Newspaper Archives.
Click Here to Search Texas Obituary Records! - This database is a compilation of obituaries published in U.S. newspapers, collected from various online sources. Obituaries can vary in the amount of information they contain, but many of them are genealogical goldmines, including information such as names, dates, places of birth and death, marriage information, and family relationships.
During Texas's colonization period Roman Catholics were the most numerous, but early citizens included those representing other religious faiths such as Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Christian or Disciples of Christ.
Many cemetery records have been collected and transcribed, including the largest of which is multi-volumes compilation by the DAR and two volumes for Peters Colonists and descendants. The DAR collection, also microfilmed, is available at the Texas State Library and through the FHL.
Some Texas county historical and genealogical societies have published local cemetery and/funeral home records. These are normally available for purchase through the respective society. Two references can help determine which cemeteries have been recorded: Kim Parsons', A Reference to Texas Cemetery Records (Humble, Tex.: by author, 1988), arranged by county; and Sharry Crofford-Gould's, Texas Cemetery Inscriptions: A Source Index (San Antonio, Tex.: Limited Editions, 1977).
Below is a list of online resources for Coryell County Cemetery & Church Records. Email us with websites containing Coryell County Cemetery & Church Records by clicking the link below:
Find Obituaries in The World's Largest Newspaper Archive at NewpaperArchive.com! - Find thousands of Texas obituaries to help you research your family history. Search for a Texas newspaper obituary about your ancestor or a celebrity. Begin your search today and find death notices and funeral announcements printed in newspapers from Texas.
Click Here to Search Texas Family Tree Records! - The use of published genealogies, electronic files containing genealogical lineage, and other compiled sources can be of tremendous value to a researcher.
When view family trees online or not, be sure to only take the info at face value and always follow up with your own sources or verify the ones they provide. Below is a list of online resources for Coryell County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information. Email us with websites containing Coryell County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information by clicking the link below:
Genealogy Encyclopedia: General Abbreviations, Early Illnesses, Nickname Meanings, Worldwide Epidemics, Early Occupations, Common Terms, Censuses Explained, Free Genealogical Forms
Nichols and Related Families of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virgina.
Texas Family & Local History Records - The Family & Local Histories Collection lets you read journals, memoirs, and other first-hand historical narratives right on your computer. Gathered from some of the world's finest libraries, these materials may provide hard-to-find town, county, and state information; tax records and wills; military, church, and court records; as well as photographs, stories, and maps.
Archeological evidence suggests that Central Texas, including Coryell County, has supported human habitation for at least 12,000 years. The hunting and gathering peoples who had established themselves along the Leon River by 4500 B.C. were probably ancestors of the Tonkawa Indians, who resided in the area in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Another Central Texas tribe, the Lipan Apaches, became neighbors of the Tonkawas sometime after 1300. In later years Kiowas sometimes resided in the area, and the Comanches occasionally passed through.
The area that became Coryell County was part of the Milam Land District, assigned by the Mexican government for settlement first to Robert Leftwich in 1825, and later to Sterling C. Robertson. Some of the land was surveyed as early as 1835, but few settlements existed before the late 1840s, when the United States established Fort Gates and other military posts along the frontier to protect incoming residents from Indians. The line of frontier forts was moved farther west in the early 1850s, and Fort Gates was abandoned in 1852. Settlers in the Fort Gates area numbered about 250 at that time, and they began to campaign for a county seat. In 1854 the legislature established Coryell County and named it in honor of frontiersman James Coryell, an early landholder. Residents chose the site for Gatesville, the county seat, in an election held in May 1854.
Besides Fort Gates, settlements established in Coryell County in the 1850s included Mound, Coryell Church, Rainey's Creek (Coryell City), Langford Cove (Evant), Boyd's Cove (Bee House), the Grove, Henson's Creek, Spring Hill, Station Creek, Turnover, and Lincolnville. The 1860 census showed the county's free population to be 2,360; 81 of this number were slaveholders, who owned a total of 306 slaves. The majority of residents were from the Old South. Of the heads of households in 1860, the largest number (115) were from Tennessee, forty were from Alabama, and thirty-seven each from Kentucky and North Carolina.
Unlike neighboring McLennan County, Coryell County had few large plantations. Most of its resources were devoted to stock raising and subsistence farming. The 1860 production included 25,000 cattle, 8,500 hogs, 3,800 sheep, 61,000 bushels of corn, 18,000 bushels of wheat, and forty-nine bales of cotton.
Although Coryell County residents owned relatively few slaves, the prevailing sentiment was decidedly in favor of secession. In the fall of 1860 residents held several mass meetings advocating secession and the formation of militia companies. James M. Norris represented the county at the Secession Convention in January 1861 and voted to leave the Union; Coryell County voters approved the ordinance later that year by a margin of 293 to 55. Several companies from Coryell County volunteered for duty in the Confederate Army or to help protect frontier settlers from Indians. Gatesville became headquarters of the Second Frontier District, under the command of Maj. George B. Erath. Local sources give little record of Coryell County during Reconstruction. Election returns for 1869 showed the county choosing Andrew J. Hamilton over Edmund J. Davisq for governor by a unanimous vote, 259 to 0; the vote indicated that the Radical Republicans had been banished by that time and the Democrats restored to power.
In national politics, Coryell County was staunchly Democratic from the end of Reconstruction through the late 1960s. However, voters chose Richard Nixon in 1972, Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984, and George Bush in 1988 and 1992. Occasional third parties, such as the Greenbackers, Populists, and Progressives, drew a sizable portion of the vote, but never enough to swing the county's overall election results. Residents generally voted Democratic in state elections.
Before the Civil War, schools in Coryell County were operated as private or subscription institutions, with state funds supplementing the budgets. The legislature enacted a system of public schools in 1870, and by 1872 Coryell County had twenty teachers and nineteen schools for nearly 600 schoolchildren. Nearly every community either had its own school or was near a community that did. As in many Texas counties, however, extensive schooling was for many children a luxury that took second place to helping on the family farm. As late as 1940 fewer than 9 percent of the population over the age of twenty-five had completed high school. Large-scale consolidation of common schools into independent school districts took place in the 1930s and 1940s, making it possible to use available resources more efficiently. After World War II the percentage of residents who finished school gradually rose. By 1960 nearly 18 percent were high school graduates, and by 1980 the number represented 72 percent of the population over twenty-five.
In the early years of Coryell County few communities had their own preacher; itinerant ministers went from place to place, sometimes staying two or three months in a town. Among the earliest churches established in the county were a Baptist church at Coryell Church in 1854 and a Methodist church at Gatesville in 1854. The first Presbyterian church was organized at Rainey's Creek in 1858. A Christian church was in operation by the mid-1860s, and Germans and Wendsq brought the Lutheran church to the area, establishing St. John's in Coryell City in 1889. Coryell County had no Catholic church until 1940, when an influx of military families diversified the area's religion; before that, Catholics had to travel to Lampasas or Waco in order to attend services. In the early 1990s, the county had approximately 100 churches, representing fifteen different faiths; Southern Baptist, United Methodist, and Church of Christ were the largest communions.
Like most areas in the South, Coryell County suffered a severe economic decline after the Civil War and throughout Reconstruction. Between 1864 and 1866 the county lost 63 percent of its tax base. About a third of the lost property was in slaves; the rest came from declines in farm acreage, farm value, and livestock value, each of which had fallen 30 to 50 percent by the time of the 1870 census. Recovery was slow because transportation was poor and the economy was so dependent on stock raising and farming.
The county economy began to recover in the late 1860s. The overall population more than doubled between 1870 and 1880, rising from 4,124 to 10,924, and the market for agricultural products increased. The 1880 census reported 1,546 farms in the county, up from 279 ten years earlier, and the amount of improved land rose from 11,831 acres in 1870 to 83,258 acres in 1880. Field crops such as corn, wheat, oats, and cotton took up about 65 percent of the improved land, while livestock dominated the rest. By 1880 the county had nearly 23,000 cattle, 10,300 hogs, and 4,300 sheep. A branch of the Chisholm Trail passed through the county, and the area around Copperas Cove served as a camping ground for traildrivers. When the arrival of the railroad made long trail drives unnecessary, Copperas Cove continued to prosper as a shipping point for cattle. Coryell County ranchers reported more than 46,000 cattle and 19,800 hogs in 1890, but by 1900, due to the influx of new residents from the Old South, farming had become the dominant occupation; cotton, corn, and oats were raised on more than 65 percent of the county's 200,000 improved acres.
Two railroads were completed through Coryell County in 1882: the Texas and St. Louis Railway laid a narrow-gauge track from Waco to Gatesville, and the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe crossed the southern tip of the county near Copperas Cove, making its way from Belton to Lampasas. The arrival of the railroads prompted the establishment of Oglesby, Lime City, and Leon Junction, and provided new economic opportunities for Mound, Gatesville, and Copperas Cove. A third railroad company, the Stephenville North and South Texas, laid track from Hamilton to Gatesville in 1911, providing the northwestern part of the county with easier access to rail service and making the communities of Ireland and Levita more important commercial centers.
Between 1880 and 1900 the population of Coryell County nearly doubled again, rising to 21,308 by the turn of the century. Most of the incoming residents were from other parts of Texas or from other southern states; some, however, came from other countries. New immigrants arrived from Germany in the 1880s and 1890s via Galveston, Lee, and Fayette counties, and from Mexico soon after the turn of the century. In 1930, 145 residents of Coryell County were native Germans, and 352 were native Mexicans. As for African Americans, some former slaves left the county after the Civil War, but most stayed either to continue working for their former owners or to start new lives on their own. One group settled in Lincolnville, about four miles west of Gatesville. Between 1880 and 1950, the number of black residents in the county increased at roughly the same rate as the white population; blacks represented from 2 to 3 percent of the county's total population during those years. The permanent establishment of Fort Hood in 1950 changed the ethnic makeup of the county. By the early 1980s, 22 percent of the county's 56,767 residents were of British descent, 21 percent were German, 19 percent were black, 8 percent were Hispanic, 2 percent were Asian, and 0.6 percent were Indian; the remaining percentage was unspecified.
For the first third of the twentieth century, roughly 30 to 50 percent of the county's improved acreage was devoted to cotton culture, with production generally ranging from 18,000 to 30,000 bales annually; the county's record crop of nearly 58,000 bales occurred in 1906. Production totals fell in the 1930s, as low yields and the onset of the Great Depression persuaded farmers to devote more of their resources to feed crops and livestock. In 1940 farmers planted 50,500 acres in cotton, compared to the 109,000 acres they had planted ten years earlier; in the late 1950s, cotton was grown on fewer than 17,000 acres. No cotton production was reported in the early 1980s.
Farmers and ranchers kept more of their land as pasture for livestock. Sheep and goat ranching,q which had been first introduced to the area in the 1850s and 1860s, gradually increased in importance in the 1930s. Production of wool rose from 32,800 pounds in 1920 to 665,700 in 1940, while mohair production increased from about 16,000 to 121,300 pounds; these two industries declined somewhat in the 1960s and 1970s as cattle production increased. The cattle industry remained fairly stable between 1900 and 1940, with the amount of stock on hand averaging about 35,000 head. The number of cattle rose to nearly 48,000 in the late 1960s and to 93,000 in the early 1980s.
Tenant farming and sharecropping, which had accounted for the operation of a third of the county's farms in 1880, increased steadily in the early twentieth century, peaking at 58 percent in 1930. The depression forced some people, many of them tenants, to give up farming and look for work elsewhere. The establishment of Camp Hood in the early 1940s took approximately 225 square miles of land in southern Coryell County, eliminating two dozen communities and nearly 1,200 farms. Although some small farmers in other areas of the county managed to keep their land, the trend was toward larger farming and ranching operations; the number of farms in the county fell from 3,101 in 1930 to 1,841 in 1950 and 991 in 1982, while the average size of a farm rose from 188 acres in 1930 to 268 acres in 1950, and to 627 acres in the early 1980s. In 1950, 28 percent of the farms were run by tenants, and by 1982 that figure had fallen to 12 percent.
By virtue of its rural environment and relatively small population Coryell County escaped many of the hardships suffered by more urban areas during the depression of the 1930s; nevertheless, relief programs were necessary to see local residents through the difficulties that they did experience. Among these programs were two camps established by the Civilian Conservation Corps-one at Mother Neff State Park to construct park buildings and tourist facilities, and one at Gatesville as a soil-conservation and brush-control detail.
The United States involvement in World War II brought an end to the depression; on a local level, new war industries paved the way for a dramatic increase in the population of Coryell County. Among the military facilities built in and near the county in the 1940s were Camp Hood, the Bluebonnet Ordnance plant, and a camp for German prisoners of war. Because of the large number of soldiers, construction workers, and other government employees who came to the area during the war years, there was a severe housing shortage, and many local families offered rooms for rent in their homes. When the military decided in 1950 to make Fort Hood a permanent base, the population of Copperas Cove mushroomed, from 1,052 in 1950 to 4,567 in 1960 and to 10,818 in 1970. During the same period Gatesville's population grew by only 800, from 3,838 to 4,683.
The St. Louis Southwestern of Texas abandoned its track to Gatesville in 1972, leaving the town without rail service; the branch to the northwest had been discontinued in the 1940s. However, in the 1970s and 1980s, Gatesville was chosen as the site for several new units of the Texas Department of Corrections (see PRISON SYSTEM). The Gatesville State School for Boys, established in 1887, closed in the early 1970s, and the facility became the Gatesville Unit of TDC. Mountain View School for Boys, established in 1962, was also transferred to TDC in 1975 to provide relief for overcrowded conditions at the Goree Unit Women's Prison in Huntsville. The Hilltop Unit, a minimum-security prison for men, opened in 1981. In all, more than 1,000 people worked for the prison system at Gatesville, making TDC one of the county's largest employers.
In the early 1980s, 88 percent of the land in Coryell County (exclusive of Fort Hood) was devoted to farms and ranches. About 20 percent of the farmland was under cultivation, with oats, wheat, and sorghum accounting for 94 percent of the 101,000 acres harvested; other crops were hay, potatoes, sweet potatoes, peaches, and pecans. Eighty percent of the county's agricultural receipts came from livestock and livestock products, the most important ones being cattle, sheep, wool, Angora goats, mohair, hogs, and turkeys. Although agriculture continued to be an important part of the local economy, farm receipts represented less than 8 percent of the county's total income. Professional and related services, manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade, and public administration employed 68 percent of the workforce in the 1980s; 10 percent of the workforce was self-employed, and 8 percent was employed outside the county. Coryell County had 56,767 residents in 1980, a 60 percent increase over the 1970 population of 35, 311. The county's population in 1990 was 64,213, according to census records.
Texas Birth Certificates, 1903-10, 1926-29