Snyder, Texas
Encyclopedia
Snyder is a city in and the county seat
of Scurry County, Texas
, United States
. The population was 10,653 at the 2010 census. It is located on Deep Creek, a minor tributary
of the Colorado River
of Texas. Snyder is approximately 150 km (93 miles) southeast of Lubbock
.
Located in Snyder is the Scurry County Coliseum, a large meeting hall which hosts area events. Now known only as "The Coliseum," the structure has since 2008 been operated by Western Texas College
. Outside the Coliseum is a locomotive engine and a small restored historic village.
On the courthouse grounds downtown is a veterans' monument and the sculpture of a rare albino buffalo
.
of 2000, there were 10,783 people, 4,980 households, and 2,880 families residing in the city. The population density
was 1,256.8 people per square mile (485.2/km²). There were 5,013 housing units at an average density of 584.3 per square mile (225.6/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 79.00% White, 4.69% African American, 0.57% Native American, 0.25% Asian, 13.68% from other races
, and 1.81% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 31.8% of the population.
There were 4,068 households out of which 34.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.3% were married couples
living together, 11.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.2% were non-families. 26.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.2% had someone living alone who was 64 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.56 and the average family size was 3.10.
In the city the population was spread out with 27.8% under the age of 18, 10.5% from 18 to 24, 24.0% from 25 to 44, 20.8% from 45 to 64, and 16.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 87.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.9 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $31 016, and the median income for a family was $37,392. Males had a median income of $30 033 versus $17 609 for females. The per capita income
for the city was $16,647. About 13.7% of families and 17.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 22.4% of those under age 18 and 10.8% of those age 65 or over.
operates the Snyder Distribution Center in Snyder.
The United States Postal Service
operates the Snyder Post Office.
serves Snyder. The schools are Snyder Elementary, Snyder Junior High School, and Snyder High School.
Western Texas College
, a two-year community college
, is located in Snyder.
Church is located downtown to the rear left of the courthouse. There are at least three Independent Baptist
congregations in the city. Faith Baptist Church was founded in 1969, originally at the Scurry County Coliseum, by the pastor Luther Wallace "Buck" Hatfield (1929–1995). Hatfield's family also owned, and has since sold, The Sweet Shop drive-in diner in Snyder.
failed to bring a true bill against the killer. Gladys Johnson Sims in the spring of 1917 married Texas Ranger
Frank Hamer
, who had lost two children from a previous marriage. The Hamers raised four children, the daughters of Gladys and Ed Sims, and two of their own, including Frank Hamer, Jr. Frank Hamer died in 1955, but Gladys lived in their home in Austin
until her death in 1986 at the age of eighty-five.
series Settling Accounts by Harry Turtledove
. In the books Drive to the East, The Grapple, and In at the Death, the Confederate States of America set up a large concentration camp for the elimination of African-Americans, similar to Nazi Germany's real death camps in World War II. The camp is a few miles outside of Snyder. The town is repeatedly and heavily bombed by the United States before being overrun by US ground forces. At least one million people are killed at the camp and buried in mass graves.
.
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....
of Scurry County, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The population was 10,653 at the 2010 census. It is located on Deep Creek, a minor tributary
Tributary
A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...
of the Colorado River
Colorado River (Texas)
The Colorado River is a river that runs through the U.S. state of Texas; it should not be confused with the much longer Colorado River which flows from Colorado into the Gulf of California....
of Texas. Snyder is approximately 150 km (93 miles) southeast of Lubbock
Lubbock, Texas
Lubbock is a city in and the county seat of Lubbock County, Texas, United States. The city is located in the northwestern part of the state, a region known historically as the Llano Estacado, and the home of Texas Tech University and Lubbock Christian University...
.
Located in Snyder is the Scurry County Coliseum, a large meeting hall which hosts area events. Now known only as "The Coliseum," the structure has since 2008 been operated by Western Texas College
Western Texas College
Western Texas College is a community college founded in 1971 and located in Snyder in Scurry County, Texas. In addition to the main campus, a downtown Snyder location focuses on Workforce and Community Service...
. Outside the Coliseum is a locomotive engine and a small restored historic village.
On the courthouse grounds downtown is a veterans' monument and the sculpture of a rare albino buffalo
Bison
Members of the genus Bison are large, even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Two extant and four extinct species are recognized...
.
Demographics
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 10,783 people, 4,980 households, and 2,880 families residing in the city. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 1,256.8 people per square mile (485.2/km²). There were 5,013 housing units at an average density of 584.3 per square mile (225.6/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 79.00% White, 4.69% African American, 0.57% Native American, 0.25% Asian, 13.68% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 1.81% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 31.8% of the population.
There were 4,068 households out of which 34.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.3% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 11.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.2% were non-families. 26.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.2% had someone living alone who was 64 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.56 and the average family size was 3.10.
In the city the population was spread out with 27.8% under the age of 18, 10.5% from 18 to 24, 24.0% from 25 to 44, 20.8% from 45 to 64, and 16.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 87.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.9 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $31 016, and the median income for a family was $37,392. Males had a median income of $30 033 versus $17 609 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the city was $16,647. About 13.7% of families and 17.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 22.4% of those under age 18 and 10.8% of those age 65 or over.
Government and infrastructure
The Texas Department of Criminal JusticeTexas Department of Criminal Justice
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice is a department of the government of the state of Texas. The TDCJ is responsible for statewide criminal justice for adult offenders, including managing offenders in state prisons, state jails and private correctional facilities, funding and certain...
operates the Snyder Distribution Center in Snyder.
The United States Postal Service
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
operates the Snyder Post Office.
Education
The Snyder Independent School DistrictSnyder Independent School District
Snyder Independent School District is a public school district based in Snyder, Texas .Located in Scurry County, small portions of the district extend into Kent and Mitchell counties....
serves Snyder. The schools are Snyder Elementary, Snyder Junior High School, and Snyder High School.
Western Texas College
Western Texas College
Western Texas College is a community college founded in 1971 and located in Snyder in Scurry County, Texas. In addition to the main campus, a downtown Snyder location focuses on Workforce and Community Service...
, a two-year community college
Community college
A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries.-Australia:Community colleges carry on the tradition of adult education, which was established in Australia around mid 19th century when evening classes were held to help adults...
, is located in Snyder.
Churches
Snyder contains churches, primarily of major Protestant denominations. A large First BaptistBaptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
Church is located downtown to the rear left of the courthouse. There are at least three Independent Baptist
Independent Baptist
Independent Baptist churches are Christian churches generally holding to conservative Baptist beliefs. They are characterized by being independent from the authority of denominations or similar bodies. Members of such churches comprised three percent of the United States adult population according...
congregations in the city. Faith Baptist Church was founded in 1969, originally at the Scurry County Coliseum, by the pastor Luther Wallace "Buck" Hatfield (1929–1995). Hatfield's family also owned, and has since sold, The Sweet Shop drive-in diner in Snyder.
Johnson-Sims feud
At the turn of the 20th century, Snyder was rocketed by a deadly feud between the families of Billy Johnson and Ed Sims. Gladys Johnson, daughter of banker Billy Johnson, at the age of fourteen in 1914, married Ed Sims. The young couple had two daughters but soon divorced in July 1916. Sims was thereafter shot dead by a Johnson family member. The grand jury in LamesaLamesa, Texas
Lamesa is a city in and the county seat of Dawson County, Texas, United States. The population was 9,952 at the 2000 census. Located south of Lubbock on the Llano Estacado, Lamesa was founded in 1903. Most of the economy is based on cattle ranching and cotton farming. The Preston E...
failed to bring a true bill against the killer. Gladys Johnson Sims in the spring of 1917 married Texas Ranger
Texas Ranger Division
The Texas Ranger Division, commonly called the Texas Rangers, is a law enforcement agency with statewide jurisdiction in Texas, and is based in Austin, Texas...
Frank Hamer
Frank Hamer
Francis Augustus Hamer was a Texas Ranger, known in popular culture for his involvement in tracking down and killing the criminal duo Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow in 1934...
, who had lost two children from a previous marriage. The Hamers raised four children, the daughters of Gladys and Ed Sims, and two of their own, including Frank Hamer, Jr. Frank Hamer died in 1955, but Gladys lived in their home in Austin
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
until her death in 1986 at the age of eighty-five.
Snyder in popular literature
Snyder plays a key plot role, and is frequently mentioned, in the novelNovel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
series Settling Accounts by Harry Turtledove
Harry Turtledove
Harry Norman Turtledove is an American novelist, who has produced works in several genres including alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy and science fiction.- Life :...
. In the books Drive to the East, The Grapple, and In at the Death, the Confederate States of America set up a large concentration camp for the elimination of African-Americans, similar to Nazi Germany's real death camps in World War II. The camp is a few miles outside of Snyder. The town is repeatedly and heavily bombed by the United States before being overrun by US ground forces. At least one million people are killed at the camp and buried in mass graves.
Earthquake
On September 11, 2011, a magnitude 4.4 earthquake centered 20 km (12 miles) north-northeast of Snyder produced light-to-moderate shaking, according to the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information CenterNational Earthquake Information Center
The National Earthquake Information Center is part of the United States Geological Survey located on the campus of the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado. The NEIC has three main missions:...
.
Notable residents
- Emmy-Award winning actorActorAn actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
Powers BoothePowers BoothePowers Allen Boothe is an American television and film actor. Some of his most notable roles include his Emmy-winning 1980 portrayal of Jim Jones and his turn as Cy Tolliver on Deadwood, as well as Vice-President Noah Daniels on 24....
(born 1948), who portrayed the demonic clergyman Jim JonesJim JonesJames Warren "Jim" Jones was the founder and leader of the Peoples Temple, which is best known for the November 18, 1978 mass suicide of 909 Temple members in Jonestown, Guyana along with the killings of five other people at a nearby airstrip.Jones was born in Indiana and started the Temple in...
in Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim JonesGuyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim JonesGuyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones, also called The Mad Messiah, is a 1980 television miniseries about the Peoples Temple led by Jim Jones, and their 1978 mass suicide at Jonestown. Based on the book by Charles A...
, Curly Bill in TombstoneTombstone (film)Tombstone is a 1993 American action film set in the Old West directed by George P. Cosmatos, along with uncredited directorial efforts by actor Kurt Russell and writer Kevin Jarre. The storyline was conceived from a screenplay written by Jarre....
and Senator Roark in Sin CitySin City (film)Sin City, also known as Frank Miller's Sin City, is a 2005 crime thriller film written, produced and directed by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez...
, is originally from Snyder.
- Dick Jones (born 1927), American actorActorAn actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
who starred in Buffalo Bill, Jr.Buffalo Bill Jr.Buffalo Bill, Jr. is an American Western television series starring Dickie Jones that aired in syndication from March 1, 1955, until September 21, 1956.-Synopsis:...
on NBCNBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
in 1955, was born in Snyder. Dick (Dickie) Jones was famously known for his voicing of the character Pinocchio in the 1940 Disney movie PinocchioPinocchioThe Adventures of Pinocchio is a novel for children by Italian author Carlo Collodi, written in Florence. The first half was originally a serial between 1881 and 1883, and then later completed as a book for children in February 1883. It is about the mischievous adventures of Pinocchio , an...
.
- Barry TubbBarry TubbBarry York Tubb is an American actor and director. He has worked in both television and film since 1983.-Early life:...
, actor who portrayed Wolfman in Top GunTop GunTop Gun may refer to:* Top Gun is a 1986 film starring Tom Cruise.**Top Gun , soundtrack to the movie**Top Gun , a number of games based on the movie...
, Jasper in Lonesome Dove and directed the small film Grand ChampionGrand ChampionGrand Champion is a 2002 family film, starring Jacob Fisher, George Strait, Emma Roberts and Joey Lauren Adams, about a young boy who wants his calf "Hokey" to grow up to be the Grand Champion...
, was born in Snyder.
- Kevin AlejandroKevin AlejandroKevin Michael Alejandro is an American actor. Alejandro may be best known for his roles as Nate Moretta in the series Southland and as Jesus Velasquez in the series True Blood.-Early life:...
(born 1976), American actorActorAn actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
who starred in Ugly BettyUgly BettyUgly Betty is an American comedy-drama television series developed by Silvio Horta, which premiered on ABC on September 28, 2006, and ended on April 14, 2010. The series revolves around the character Betty Suarez and is based on Fernando Gaitán's Colombian telenovela soap opera Yo soy Betty, la fea...
on ABCAmerican Broadcasting CompanyThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
as Santos and SouthlandSouthland-Australia:* Westfield Southland, a large retail complex located in the suburb of Cheltenham, approximately 16 kilometres from the Melbourne CBD in Australia-Canada:* Greater Toronto Area...
on TNT as Detective Nate Moretta , grew up in Snyder. He is know currently a cast member of the popular HBO series True BloodTrue BloodTrue Blood is an American television series created and produced by Alan Ball. It is based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries series of novels by Charlaine Harris, detailing the co-existence of vampires and humans in Bon Temps, a fictional, small town in the state of Louisiana...
.
- Dave McGinnisDave McGinnisDave McGinnis is the linebackers coach of the Tennessee Titans. He formerly was the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals from 2000 through 2003.-Biography:...
, who coached the Arizona Cardinals from 2000 to 2003, graduated from Snyder High School in 1969.
- Charlene HoltCharlene HoltVerna Charlene Stavely, professionally known as Charlene Holt, was an American actress, known for her supporting roles in TV and film.-Early life:...
, actress and model who starred in El Dorado (1966 film) as Maudie, the love interest of Robert MitchumRobert MitchumRobert Charles Durman Mitchum was an American film actor, author, composer and singer and is #23 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male American screen legends of all time...
and John WayneJohn WayneMarion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
, was born in Snyder.