Wichita Falls, Texas

Wichita Falls is a city in and the county seat of Wichita County, Texas, United States. It is the principal city of the Wichita Falls metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses all of Archer, Clay, and Wichita Counties. According to the 2020 census, it had a population of 102,316, making it the 39th-most populous city in Texas.

The city was named, in 1876, for a waterfall on the Wichita River, which was destroyed due to flooding in 1886.

The city is home to the Newby-McMahon Building (otherwise known as the "world's littlest skyscraper"), constructed downtown in 1919 and featured in Robert Ripley's Ripley's Believe It or Not!.

History


The Choctaw Native Americans settled the area in the early 1800s from their native Mississippi area once Americans displaced them after the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek. The treaty was signed and proclaimed in 1830–1831. As late as 1841, a large Indian settlement was present in the area that is now the city of Wichita Falls.

American settlers arrived in the 1860s, mainly as cattle ranchers. The city was named Wichita Falls on September 27, 1876, as the Wichita River runs through the area and a waterfall was in the river's course in 1876. Just 10 years later in 1886, a flood destroyed the original waterfall on the Wichita River for which the city was named. After nearly 100 years of visitors wanting to visit the no longer existing falls, the city built an artificial waterfall beside the river in Lucy Park. The recreated falls are 54 ft high and recirculate at 3,500 gallons per minute. They are visible to south-bound traffic on Interstate 44.

On the day the city was named in 1876, a sale of town lots was held at what is now the corner of Seventh and Ohio Streets – the birthplace of the city. The Fort Worth & Denver City Railway arrived in September 1882, the same year the city became the county seat of Wichita County. The city grew westwards from the original FW&DC train depot which was located at the northwest corner of Seventh Street and the FW&DC. This area is now referred to as the Depot Square Historic District, which has been declared a Texas Historic Landmark.

The early history of Wichita Falls well into the 20th century also rests on the work of two entrepreneurs, Joseph A. Kemp and his brother-in-law, Frank Kell. Kemp and Kell were pioneers in food processing and retailing, flour milling, railroads, cattle, banking, and oil.

Downtown Wichita Falls was the city's main shopping area for many years. Those shops lost ground to the creation of new shopping centers throughout the city beginning with Parker Square in 1953 and other similar developments during the 1960s and 1970s, culminating with the opening of Sikes Senter Mall in 1974. The city has been seeking funding to rebuild and restore the downtown area since 2010.

Wichita Falls was once home to offices of several oil companies and related industries, along with oil refineries operated by the Continental Oil Company (now ConocoPhillips) until 1952 and Panhandle Oil Company (founded in Wichita Falls, sold to American Petrofina in 1965). Both firms continued to use a portion of their former refineries as gasoline/oil terminal facilities for many years.

1964 tornado
A devastating tornado hit the northern and northwestern portions of Wichita Falls, along with Sheppard Air Force Base during the afternoon of April 3, 1964 (later referred to as "Black Friday"). As the first violent tornado on record to hit the Wichita Falls area, it left seven dead and more than 100 injured. Additionally, the tornado caused roughly $15 million in property damage with about 225 homes destroyed and another 250 damaged. It was rated F5, the highest rating on the Fujita scale, but it is overshadowed by the 1979 tornado.

1979 tornado
An F4 tornado struck the heavily populated southern sections of Wichita Falls in the late afternoon on Tuesday, April 10, 1979 (known as "Terrible Tuesday"). It was part of an outbreak that produced 30 tornadoes around the region. Despite having nearly an hour's advance warning that severe weather was imminent, 42 people were killed (including 25 in vehicles) and 1,800 were injured because it arrived just as many people were driving home from work. It left 20,000 people homeless and caused $400 million in damage, a U.S. record not topped by an individual tornado until the F5 Moore–Oklahoma City tornado of May 3, 1999.

Geography and climate
Wichita Falls is about 15 mi south of the border with Oklahoma, 115 mi northwest of Fort Worth, and 140 mi southwest of Oklahoma City. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 70.71 sqmi, of which 0.02 sqmi (0.03%) is covered by water.

Wichita Falls experiences a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cfa), featuring long, very hot and humid summers, and cool winters. The city has some of the highest summer daily maximum temperatures in the entire U.S. outside of the Desert Southwest. Temperatures have hit 100 °F as early as March 27 and as late as October 17, but more typically reach that level on 28 days annually, with 102 days of 90 °F or higher annually; the average window for the latter mark is April 9–October 10. However, 59 to 60 nights of freezing lows occur, and an average of 4.8 days where the high does not rise above freezing. The monthly daily average temperature ranges from 42.0 °F in January to 84.4 °F in July. The record low temperature is −12 °F on January 4, 1947. The highest recorded temperature is 117 °F on June 28, 1980. Snowfall is sporadic and averages 4.1 in per season, while rainfall is typically greatest in early summer.

From 2010 through 2013, Wichita Falls, along with a large portion of the south-central US, experienced a persistent drought. In September 2011, Wichita Falls became the first Texas city to have 100 days of 100 °F or higher within one year. On every day from June 22 to August 12, the temperature reached 100 °F or higher, and from May 27 to September 3, the temperature reached 90 °F or higher. In addition, the all-time warm daily minimum of 88 °F was set on July 26, and June, July, and August of that year were all the hottest on record.

During the 2015 Texas–Oklahoma floods, Wichita Falls broke its all-time record for the wettest month, with 17.00 inches of rain recorded in May 2015.

Notes:

Demographics
American Community Survey estimates, there were 102,659 people and 38,057 households. The population density was 1421.2 PD/sqmi. There were 42,641 housing units at an average density of 590.3 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the city was 72.1% White, 10.8% Black or African American, 3.6% some other race, 2.8% Asian, 1.0% Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and 0.6% Native American or Alaskan Native, with 9.1% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 22.4% of the population.

Of the 38,057 households, 30.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 27.4% had seniors 65 years or older living with them, 40.1% were married couples living together, 6.9% were couples cohabitating, 24.0% had a male householder with no partner present, and 29.0% had a female householder with no partner present. The median household size was 2.39 and the median family size was 2.98.

The age distribution was 22.9% under 18, 13.9% from 18 to 24, 27.0% from 25 to 44, 21.3% from 45 to 64, and 14.9% who were 65 or older. The median age was 34.4 years. For every 100 females, there were 114.6 males.

The median income for a household was $56,091, with family households having a median income of $71,975 and non-family households $35,403. The per capita income was $31,730. Out of the 90,842 people with a determined poverty status, 15.2% were below the poverty line. Further, 21.4% of minors and 16.3% of seniors were below the poverty line.

In the survey, residents self-identified with various ethnic ancestries. People of German descent made up 9.6% of the population of the town, followed by Irish at 6.5%, English at 6.3%, American at 5.1%, Italian at 2.7%, Swedish at 1.9%, Scotch-Irish at 1.1%, Dutch at 1.1%, Sub-Saharan African at 1.0%, Scottish at 0.9%, French at 0.9%, and Norwegian at 0.8%.

Top employers
According to Wichita Falls Chamber of Commerce, the top employers in the city are:

Media
Wichita Falls' media market also includes the nearby, smaller city of Lawton, Oklahoma. According to Nielsen Media Research estimates for the 2016–17 season, the market – which encompasses 10 counties in western North Texas and six counties in southwestern Oklahoma, has 152,950 households with at least one television set, making it the 148th-largest television market in the United States; the market also has an average of 120,200 radio listeners ages 12 and over, making it the 250th-largest radio market in the nation.

Newspapers

 * Times Record News (daily)
 * Falls News Journal (daily)

Television stations

 * KFDX-TV (channel 3; NBC)
 * KAUZ-TV (channel 6; CBS, and digital subchannel 6.2; The CW)
 * KSWO-TV (channel 7; ABC, and digital subchannel 7.2; Telemundo)
 * KJTL (channel 18; Fox)
 * KJBO-LD (channel 35; MyNetworkTV)

KERA-TV out of Dallas–Fort Worth serves as the default PBS member station for Wichita Falls via a translator station on UHF channel 44.

Radio stations

 * KWFS (1290 AM; news/talk radio)
 * KMCU (88.7 FM; National Public Radio)
 * KMOC (89.5 FM; Contemporary Christian)
 * KZKL (90.5 FM; Contemporary Christian)
 * KNIN (92.9 FM; CHR)
 * KOLI (94.9 FM; Modern Country)
 * KTWF (95.5 FM; Classic hits)
 * KXXN (97.5 FM; Classic Country)
 * KLUR (99.9 FM; Country)
 * KWFB (100.9 FM; Adult hits)
 * KWFS-FM (102.3 FM; Modern Country)
 * KQXC (103.9 FM; Rhythmic CHR)
 * KYYI (104.7 FM; Classic rock)
 * KBZS (106.3 FM; Active rock)

Lucy Park
Lucy Park is a 170 acre park with a log cabin, duck pond, swimming pool, playground, frisbee golf course, and picnic areas. It has multiple paved walkways suitable for walking, running, biking, or rollerskating, including a river walk that goes to a man-made waterfall feature in lieu of the original falls for which the city was named (the original falls, located in the river, were destroyed in a 19th-century flood; the new waterfall attraction, located in the park and discharging into the river, were built in response to numerous tourist requests to visit the "Wichita Falls"). It is one of 37 parks throughout the city. The parks range in size from small neighborhood facilities to the 258 acres of Weeks Park featuring the Champions Course at Weeks Park, an 18-hole golf course. In addition, an off-leash dog park is within Lake Wichita Park and a skatepark adjacent to the city's softball complex. Also, unpaved trails for off-road biking and hiking are available.

Hotter'N Hell Hundred
Wichita Falls is the home of the annual Hotter'N Hell Hundred, the largest single-day century bicycle ride in the United States and one of the largest races in the world. The race started as a way for the city to celebrate its centennial in 1982. The race takes place over a weekend in August, and multiple events are hosted for people to participate.

Sports
In 2014, the Wichita Falls Nighthawks, an indoor football team, joined the Indoor Football League but suspended operations after the 2017 season.

In 2015, it was acknowledged that the sustainability of minor or rookie league sports franchises in the Wichita Falls region had a questionable future.

The Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame relocated to Wichita Falls from Amsterdam, New York, in November 2015.

Local government
The mayor of Wichita Falls is Tim Short, who was elected on November 7, 2023. Mayors are elected on a nonpartisan ballot.

The Wichita Falls City Council has six members:
 * District 1: Michael Smith
 * District 2: Larry Nelson
 * District 3: Jeff Browning
 * District 4: Mike Battaglino
 * District 5: Tom Taylor
 * At-large: Bobby Whiteley

The city manager is Darron Leiker.

State and federal politics
Wichita Falls is located in the 69th district of the Texas House of Representatives. Lanham Lyne, a Republican, represented the district from 2011 to 2013; he was the mayor of Wichita Falls from 2005 to 2010. When Lyne declined to seek a second term in 2012, voters chose another Republican, James Frank. Wichita Falls is located in the 30th district of the Texas Senate. Craig Estes, a Republican, had held the senate seat since 2001, until Pat Fallon won election in 2018. Wichita Falls is part of Texas's 13th congressional district for the U.S. House of Representatives. Ronny Jackson, a Republican, has held this seat since 2021.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice James V. Allred Unit is located in Wichita Falls, 4 mi northwest of downtown. The prison is named for former Governor James V. Allred, a Democrat and a native of Bowie, Texas, who lived early in his career in Wichita Falls. The United States Postal Service operates the Wichita Falls Post Office, the Morningside Post Office, the Bridge Creek Post Office, and the Sheppard Air Force Base Post Office.

Primary and secondary schools
Public primary and secondary education is covered by the following school districts: Wichita Falls Independent School District, City View Independent School District, Burkburnett Independent School District, and Iowa Park Consolidated Independent School District. Several private and parochial schools operate in the city, as does an active home-school community. Many of the local elementary schools participate in the Head Start program for preschool-aged children.

Two schools in the Wichita Falls ISD participate in the International Baccalaureate programs. Hirschi High School offers the IB Diploma Programme, and G.H. Kirby Junior High School for the Middle Years Programme. Other public high schools are Wichita Falls High School and S. H. Rider High School (Wichita Falls ISD) and City View High School (City View ISD).

By 1879, the first school was established. The first public school was a log structure established in the 1880s; in 1885, it was replaced with a former courthouse. Wichita Falls High School opened in 1890. That year, a school district was created, but problems with the law allowing its establishment meant it was dissolved in 1894 and the city provided schooling until the second establishment of a school district in 1900. In 1908, the Texas Legislature issued a charter for WFISD.

The city has a school for German children, Deutsche Schule Sheppard (DSS).

Higher education
Wichita Falls is home to Midwestern State University, an accredited four-year college in the Texas Tech University System and the only independent liberal arts college in Texas offering both bachelor's and master's degrees.

Vernon College is the designated community college for all of Wichita County. A local branch nearby offers two-year degrees, certificate programs, and workforce development programs

Wayland Baptist University, offering both bachelor's and master's degrees, has its main branch located in Plainview, Texas.

Highways
Wichita Falls is the western terminus for Interstate 44. U.S. Highways leading to or through Wichita Falls include 287, 277, 281, and 82. State Highway 240 ends at Wichita Falls and State Highway 79 runs through it. Wichita Falls has one of the largest freeway mileages for a city of its size as a result of a 1954 bond issue approved by city and county voters to purchase rights-of-way for several expressway routes through the city and county, the first of which was opened in the year 1958 as an alignment of U.S. 287 from Eighth Street at Broad and Holliday Streets northwestward across the Wichita River and bisecting Lucy and Scotland Parks to the Old Iowa Park Road, the original U.S. 287 alignment. That was followed by other expressway links including U.S. 82–287 east to Henrietta (completed in the year 1968), U.S. 281 south toward Jacksboro (completed 1969), U.S. 287 northwest to Iowa Park and Electra (opened 1962), Interstate 44 north to Burkburnett and the Red River (opened 1964), and Interstate 44 from Old Iowa Park Road to U.S. 287/Spur 325 interchange on the city's north side along with Spur 325 from I-44/U.S. 287 to the main gate of Sheppard Air Force Base (both completed as a single project in 1960). However, cross-country traffic for many years had to contend with several ground-level intersections and traffic lights over Holliday and Broad Streets near the downtown area for about 13 blocks between connecting expressway links until a new elevated freeway running overhead was completed in 2001.

Efforts to create an additional freeway along the path of Kell Boulevard for U.S. 82–277 began in 1967 with the acquisition of right-of-way that included a former railroad right-of-way and the first project including construction of the present frontage roads completed in 1977, followed by freeway lanes, overpasses, and on/off ramps in 1989 from just east of Brook Avenue west to Kemp Boulevard; similar projects west from Kemp to Barnett Road in 2001 followed by Barnett Road west past FM 369 in 2010 to tie in which a project now underway to transform U.S. 277 into a continuous four-lane expressway between Wichita Falls and Abilene.

Public transportation
The city operates a bus system, Falls Ride, which runs on an hourly schedule with seven routes (except on Sundays, when only one route is in operation).

Greyhound Lines provides intercity bus service to other locations served by Greyhound via its new terminal at the Wichita Falls Travel Center located at Fourth and Scott in downtown. Skylark Van Service shuttles passengers to and from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on several runs during the day all week long.

The Wichita Falls Municipal Airport is served by American Eagle, with two flights daily to the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. The Kickapoo Downtown Airport and the Wichita Valley Airport serve smaller, private planes.

Notable people

 * Greg Abbott, 48th Governor of Texas, first term began January 20, 2015 (born in Wichita Falls).
 * Chase Anderson, professional baseball player (born in Wichita Falls and graduated from S. H. Rider High School).
 * JT Barrett, quarterback for Ohio State University, born in Wichita Falls and graduated from Rider in 2013
 * Renick Bell, musician, notable live coding pioneer (born in Wichita Falls).
 * Lindy Berry, MVP quarterback with the Edmonton Eskimos in Canadian Football League.
 * Ryan Brasier, baseball player (born in Wichita Falls and graduated from S. H. Rider High School).
 * John Bundy, magician
 * Frank Kell Cahoon, Midland oilman and member of Texas House of Representatives; grandson of Frank Kell (born in Austin, Texas, grew up in Wichita Falls).
 * Raymond Carroll, renowned statistician now at Texas A&M University (born in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan, grew up in Wichita Falls).
 * Greyson Chance, singer-songwriter and pianist (born in Wichita Falls and grew up in Edmond, Oklahoma).
 * Don Cherry, charting pop singer and leading amateur golfer of 1950s and early '60s (born in Wichita Falls).
 * Bert Clark, football coach, former head coach at Washington State University (born in Wichita Falls, died in Katy, Texas).
 * Phyllis Coates, film and television actress who originated role of Lois Lane in first 26 episodes of Adventures of Superman (born in Wichita Falls).
 * William C. Conner (1920–2009), federal judge for United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (born in Wichita Falls, died in Bronxville, New York).
 * Hunter Dozier Professional Baseball Player for the Kansas City Royals
 * Nic Endo, singer for digital-hardcore band Atari Teenage Riot
 * "Cowboy" Morgan Evans, rodeo champion
 * Marcus Foster (born 1995), basketball player for Hapoel Tel Aviv of the Israeli Basketball Premier League
 * Sally Gary, speaker and author
 * Mia Hamm, NCAA, World Cup, and Olympic champion soccer player, attended Notre Dame Catholic School in Wichita Falls
 * Roberta Haynes, actress
 * Eddie Hill, drag racer
 * Frank N. Ikard, U.S. representative from Texas's 13th congressional district from 1951 to 1961; oil industry lobbyist
 * Robert Jeffress, Baptist clergyman
 * Matt and Bubba Kadane, members of the slowcore band Bedhead (band)
 * Neel Kearby, World War II US Army Air Forces flying ace and Medal of Honor recipient
 * Thomas W. Fowler, World War II US Army officer and posthumous recipient of Medal of Honor
 * Christian Leave, American singer-songwriter
 * Keith Lee, professional Wrestler
 * Khari Long, professional football player
 * Rosie Manning, professional football player
 * Markelle Martin, professional football player
 * Phil McGraw, advice television show host
 * Larry McMurtry, author who immortalized his home town by fictionalizing it
 * Richard M. Mullane, astronaut and author
 * Ed Neal, professional football player
 * David Nelson, professional football player
 * Shaunie O'Neal, American television personality
 * Edward Opp, photojournalist
 * Graham B. Purcell, Jr., Democrat, U.S. representative 1962–1973
 * Jaret Reddick, songwriter and lead vocalist for Bowling for Soup
 * Frances Reid, soap opera actress
 * Mark Rippetoe, physical trainer and author, competitive powerlifter, gym owner
 * Herbert Rogers, classical pianist
 * Lloyd Ruby, race car driver
 * Bernard Scott, professional football player
 * Frank Lee Sprague, composer and musician
 * Keith Stegall, country music artist and record producer
 * David Swinford, Texas state legislator
 * Rex Tillerson, 69th United States Secretary of State, former ExxonMobil CEO
 * John Tower, U.S. Senator from 1961 to 1984
 * Tommy Tune, actor, dancer, choreographer and producer, 10-time Tony Award winner
 * Nathan Vasher, professional football player
 * Julian Elvis Ward Jr.
 * John Edward Williams, author of the novel Stoner.
 * Ronnie Williams, professional football player
 * Dave Willis, voice actor, screenwriter, television producer