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Beeville, Texas
Historic downtown Beeville showing the Rialto Theater
Historic downtown Beeville showing the Rialto Theater
Country  United States
State  Texas
County Bee
Settled 1859
Incorporated 1890
Area
 • Total 6.38 sq mi (16.52 km2)
 • Land 6.38 sq mi (16.52 km2)
 • Water 0.00 sq mi (0.00 km2)
Elevation
210 ft (60 m)
Population
 (2020)
 • Total 13,669
 • Estimate 
(2021)
13,641
 • Density 2,006.12/sq mi (774.58/km2)
 • Demonym
Beevillian
Time zone UTC-6 (Central (CST))
 • Summer (DST) UTC-5 (CDT)
ZIP codes
78102, 78104
Area code(s) 361
FIPS code 48-07192
GNIS feature ID 1330346
Website http://www.beevilletx.org/

Beeville is a city in Bee County, Texas, United States. Its population of 13,543 at the 2020 census makes it the 207th-largest city in Texas. It is the county seat of Bee County and home to the main campus of Coastal Bend College. The area around the city contains three prisons operated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Many of the stately homes, commercial buildings, and schools in the area, including the Bee County Courthouse, were designed by architect William Charles Stephenson, who came to Beeville in 1908 from Buffalo, New York. Beeville is a national Main Street city. Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor of Mount Rushmore, and his son Lincoln, lived in the city during the time Rushmore was being sculpted.

History and culture

The original and official site on the Poesta River was first settled by the Burke, Carroll, and Heffernan families in the 1830s. Present-day Beeville was established on 150 acres (61 ha) of land donated by Ann Burke in May 1859, after the Republic of Texas was annexed by the United States. It was first named "Maryville" for pioneer Mary Heffernan.

It was renamed Beeville after Barnard E. Bee, Sr., who had served as secretary of state and secretary of war for the Republic of Texas. It was called Beeville-on-the-Poesta, with a nearby community called Beeville-on-the-Medio 7 mi (11 km) to the west. The first post office opened in 1859.

In 1886, the first railroad was constructed through Beeville, stimulating the growth of the economy and population. The Southern Pacific Transportation Company operated these railroads until the early 1970s.

Beeville couple arraigned on charge of holding Negro in slavery on farm (1942) The Brownsville Herald
A contemporary newspaper article reporting on the Alfred Irving case (October 2, 1942 - The Brownsville Herald)

In September 1942, Alfred Irving, who is believed to be one of the final chattel slaves in the United States, was freed at a farm near Beeville. Alex L. Skrobarcek and his daughter, Susie, were indicted by a federal grand jury in Laredo, Texas on November 9, 1942. The pair were found guilty in Federal court in Corpus Christi, Texas on Thursday, March 18, 1943. Alex L. Skrobarcek was sentenced to only four years in prison, while his daughter, Susie Skrobarcek, received two years.

The United States Navy operated the Beeville Naval Air Station, which trained Navy airplane pilots during World War II from 1943 through 1946. The base was reopened in 1952 as Naval Air Station Chase Field, continuing in operation until 1992.

Beeville was served by Trans-Texas Airways during the 1950s; it operated scheduled passenger flights with Douglas DC-3 propeller airliners from Chase Field with service to Brownsville, Corpus Christi, Harlingen, Houston, San Antonio, and other destinations in Texas.

In 1967, the town was inundated by 30 inches (760 mm) of rain during Hurricane Beulah.

Geography

The city's terrain ranges from flat to gently rolling slopes, set in the South Texas Brush Country.

Beeville is located between San Antonio and Corpus Christi. Travel time to Corpus Christi is approximately one hour, and to San Antonio is about 112 hours by car.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 6.1 square miles (16 km2), all land.

Climate

The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. The temperature is influenced by the warm waters of the nearby Gulf of Mexico. Prevailing southerly winds of 8 to 10 miles per hour (13 to 16 km/h) come off the gulf. Annual rainfall is about 30 inches (76 cm), fairly evenly distributed throughout the year. According to the Köppen climate classification, Beeville has a humid subtropical climate, Cfa on climate maps.

Climate data for Beeville, Texas (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1897–present)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °F (°C) 91
(33)
98
(37)
102
(39)
105
(41)
107
(42)
110
(43)
111
(44)
109
(43)
110
(43)
102
(39)
95
(35)
90
(32)
111
(44)
Mean daily maximum °F (°C) 65.5
(18.6)
69.0
(20.6)
74.6
(23.7)
80.7
(27.1)
86.8
(30.4)
91.9
(33.3)
93.8
(34.3)
95.7
(35.4)
90.4
(32.4)
84.1
(28.9)
74.9
(23.8)
67.2
(19.6)
81.2
(27.3)
Daily mean °F (°C) 54.6
(12.6)
58.2
(14.6)
64.2
(17.9)
70.2
(21.2)
77.1
(25.1)
82.1
(27.8)
83.6
(28.7)
84.5
(29.2)
80.0
(26.7)
72.7
(22.6)
63.7
(17.6)
56.3
(13.5)
70.6
(21.4)
Mean daily minimum °F (°C) 43.6
(6.4)
47.4
(8.6)
53.8
(12.1)
59.7
(15.4)
67.4
(19.7)
72.2
(22.3)
73.3
(22.9)
73.4
(23.0)
69.5
(20.8)
61.3
(16.3)
52.5
(11.4)
45.4
(7.4)
60.0
(15.6)
Record low °F (°C) 12
(−11)
11
(−12)
17
(−8)
29
(−2)
42
(6)
51
(11)
61
(16)
60
(16)
44
(7)
27
(−3)
19
(−7)
8
(−13)
8
(−13)
Average precipitation inches (mm) 1.77
(45)
1.56
(40)
2.47
(63)
2.34
(59)
3.08
(78)
3.49
(89)
3.16
(80)
2.82
(72)
4.10
(104)
2.89
(73)
2.47
(63)
1.80
(46)
31.95
(812)
Average snowfall inches (cm) 0.0
(0.0)
0.0
(0.0)
0.0
(0.0)
0.0
(0.0)
0.0
(0.0)
0.0
(0.0)
0.0
(0.0)
0.0
(0.0)
0.0
(0.0)
0.0
(0.0)
0.0
(0.0)
0.0
(0.0)
0.0
(0.0)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in) 8.2 7.4 7.1 5.6 5.9 7.4 6.1 5.1 7.7 5.7 6.3 7.5 80.0
Average snowy days (≥ 0.1 in) 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Source: NOAA

Demographics

Historical population
Census Pop.
1880 208
1890 1,311 530.3%
1910 3,269
1920 3,063 −6.3%
1930 4,806 56.9%
1940 6,789 41.3%
1950 9,348 37.7%
1960 13,811 47.7%
1970 13,506 −2.2%
1980 14,574 7.9%
1990 13,547 −7.0%
2000 13,129 −3.1%
2010 12,863 −2.0%
2020 13,669 6.3%
U.S. Decennial Census

2020 census

Beeville racial composition
(NH = Non-Hispanic)
Race Number Percentage
White (NH) 2,851 20.86%
Black or African American (NH) 420 3.07%
Native American or Alaska Native (NH) 16 0.12%
Asian (NH) 135 0.99%
Pacific Islander (NH) 2 0.01%
Some other race (NH) 30 0.22%
Mixed/multiracial (NH) 215 1.57%
Hispanic or Latino 10,000 73.16%
Total 13,669

As of the 2020 United States census, 13,669 people, 4,890 households, and 3,164 families were residing in the city.

Education

Beeville is served by the Beeville Independent School District, which has about 3,500 students in six schools.

A. C. Jones High School contains a turfed football stadium and a softball and baseball complex. Sports include golf, basketball, baseball, softball, powerlifting, soccer, tennis, track, wrestling, and cheerleading. The teams are the Trojans and Lady Trojans, and their colors are orange and white. Other extracurricular programs include the Dazzlers Dance Team, band, choir, and theater arts.

All of Bee County is in the Bee County College District (doing business as Coastal Bend College), according to the Texas Education Code. The main campus of Coastal Bend College in Beeville opened in 1967 with 790 students. Today it has over 3,700 students, more than 1,200 of them full-time. Dormitories and apartments on campus provide affordable housing. The community college offers an associate degree in 26 different fields. (Other campuses are in Alice, Kingsville and Pleasanton.)

Library

The Joe Barnhart Bee County Library is located in downtown Beeville, directly across the street from the Bee County Courthouse.

Art museum

The Beeville Art Museum is a teaching museum, relying on traveling exhibitions. It is housed in the Esther Barnhart House. The house was built in 1910 by the R.L. Hodges family and occupied by their descendants until 1975. In 1981, the Hodges House and adjacent acreage were purchased by Dr. Joe Barnhart of Houston. He named the house the Esther Barnhart House in honor of his mother. He then developed the land into a park for the community. He named the park the Joe Barnhart Park in honor of his father.

Notable people

  • Byron Bradfute, National Football League player
  • James Gunn, Princeton astronomer, 2008 National Medal of Science
  • Rudy Jaramillo, Major League Baseball player and coach
  • Cyndi Taylor Krier, San Antonio politician, born in Beeville in 1950
  • Edmundo Mireles Jr., FBI agent involved in the 1986 FBI Miami shootout
  • Marianne Rafferty, Fox News presenter and reporter
  • Eddie Taubensee, Major League Baseball player
  • Curt Walker, was a professional baseball player who played outfield for the Philadelphia Phillies

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Beeville para niños

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