Commerce, Texas
| Commerce, Texas | |
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| City | |
| View of the Texas A&M University–Commerce campus
View of the Texas A&M University–Commerce campus
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| Nickname(s): "The 'Merce" | |
| Motto: "Fun, Education, Community" | |
| Location of Commerce, Texas Location of Commerce, Texas |
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| Coordinates: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Texas |
| County | Hunt |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | John Ballotti |
| Area | |
| • Total | 6.5 sq mi (16.9 km2) |
| • Land | 6.5 sq mi (16.8 km2) |
| • Water | 0.1 sq mi (0.1 km2) |
| Elevation | 554 ft (169 m) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 8,078 |
| • Density | 1,183.3/sq mi (456.9/km2) |
| Time zone | Central (CST) (UTC-6) |
| • Summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) |
| ZIP codes | 75428-75429 |
| Area code(s) | 903 |
| FIPS code | 48-16240[1] |
| GNIS feature ID | 1373171[2] |
Commerce is a Texas city located in Hunt County, Texas, United States, situated on the eastern edge of North Texas, in the heart of the Texas Blackland Prairies, and the northeastern part of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. The town is 60 miles (97 km) from Dallas, Texas, and 45 miles south of the Texas/Oklahoma border. Commerce is the second largest city in Hunt County with a population of 8,599 residents as of 2014. The rural city is home to Texas A&M University–Commerce, a major 4-year University of over 12,000 students that has been in the town since 1894. Commerce is one of the smallest college towns in Texas.
Contents
History
The town of Commerce was formed when two merchants named William Jernigan and Josiah Jackson established a trading post and mercantile store located where the present day downtown area is. The rural area just to the northeast of the area was an open prairie area originally known as Cow Hill. The town was established in 1872 and named Commerce due to the thriving economic activity, and cotton fields and ideal farm and ranch lands between the Middle and South Sulphur rivers on the rich, black gumbo prairie in northeast Hunt County. The town incorporated in 1885. Two years later, a railroad was built through Commerce to transport merchandise from Fort Worth, and nine years later, William L. Mayo, a college educator, moved East Texas Normal College from the Northeast Texas town of Cooper to Commerce after the original school in Cooper was destroyed in a fire. Mayo continued as president of the college, now known as Texas A&M University–Commerce, until his death in 1917 and is buried on the campus grounds.
Commerce was named the “Bois d’Arc Capital of Texas” (pronounced "bow-dark") by the Texas Legislature because of its location in the geographic center of the indigenous range of the bois d’arc tree. The second largest bois d’arc tree in Texas “Big Max”, recognized by the National Forests Famous and Historic Trees, is located within the city limits. Held every September, the annual festival Bois d’Arc Bash pays homage to bois d’arc trees which played a vital part in the frontier days, providing foundations, fences and weapons of the Native Americans. The Bash celebrates with arts & crafts vendors, food, parade, kid's game area, pageant, wine tasting, musical entertainment, 5K run, and car & truck show.
Geography
Commerce is located at Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. (33.244959, -95.899957).[3]
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 6.5 square miles (17 km2), of which, 6.5 square miles (17 km2) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.26 km2) of it (0.92%) is water.
Climate
Commerce's climate is considered to be part of the humid subtropical region. The temperature varies greatly throughout the year. Commerce has hot, humid and dry Summers, typical of much of Texas and above average Spring temperatures. Commerce has cooler fall and Winter temperatures with higher wind chills due to its northern location and location on a natural prairie. During the Spring is the strongest part of the storm season as thunderstorms are very common and Tornadoes have been known to form in and around the area.
Demographics
| Historical population | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1890 | 810 | — | |
| 1900 | 1,800 | 122.2% | |
| 1910 | 2,818 | 56.6% | |
| 1920 | 3,842 | 36.3% | |
| 1930 | 4,267 | 11.1% | |
| 1940 | 4,699 | 10.1% | |
| 1950 | 5,889 | 25.3% | |
| 1960 | 5,789 | −1.7% | |
| 1970 | 9,534 | 64.7% | |
| 1980 | 8,136 | −14.7% | |
| 1990 | 6,825 | −16.1% | |
| 2000 | 7,669 | 12.4% | |
| 2010 | 8,078 | 5.3% | |
| Est. 2014 | 8,599 | [4] | 6.4% |
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As of the census[1] of 2010, there were approximately 8,078 people, 2,881 households, and 1,524 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,183.3 people per square mile (456.9/km²). There were 3,405 housing units at an average density of 525.4 per square mile (202.9/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 71.07% White, 20.78% African American, 0.42% Native American, 2.59% Asian, 0.21% Pacific Islander, 3.13% from other races, and 1.80% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.65% of the population.
There were 2,881 households out of which 28.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 35.0% were married couples living together, 14.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 47.1% were non-families. 36.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.27 and the average family size was 3.02.
Age demographic: 21.5% under the age of 18, 28.2% age 18 to 24, 26.3% age 25 to 44, 14.3% age 45 to 64, and 9.8% age 65 or older. The median age was 25.6 years. For every 100 females there were 95.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.3 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $26,946, and the median income for a family was $34,901. Males had a median income of $17,666 versus $14,515 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,320. About 29.3% of families and 35.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 37.2% of those under age 18 and 6.8% of those age 65 or over.
Transportation
Commerce is served by the following Highways-
- Texas State Highway 11–An east-west route through commerce that connects with Sulphur Springs to the east, and Wolfe City and Sherman to the west. Runs concurrent with Loop 178 along the south side of the university on a street known locally as "Culver Street" and then runs concurrent with highway 24 before heading west towards Wolfe City.
- Texas State Highway 24–Major north-south route that runs through the city of Commerce and through the University. It connects with Campbell and Interstate 30 to the south and connects with Cooper and Paris to the north. Most of the major business of Commerce line highway 24.
- Texas State Highway 50–Serves the northwest part of Commerce, particularly the area by Commerce Municipal Airport. Connects with Ladonia to the north. Formerly, the highway ran concurrent with Highway 24 from Interstate 30, this portion of the highway was reassigned in 2009.[6]
- Texas State Highway 224–Is the Commerce-to-Greenville route, as it is the only highway that directly connects the two largest cities in Hunt county. It also goes through Neylandville before reaching it's terminus in Greenville.
- Texas State Highway Loop 178–a 3/4 loop that runs a semi-circle around Commerce, runs concurrent with Highway 11 along Culver Street south of the university before the junction with highway 24, after the junction with highway 24 it continues west towards highway 224.
- Texas Farm to Market Road 71–Serves the northeast rural area of Commerce and continues into Hopkins County going though some of the smaller rural communities.
- Texas Farm to Market Road 3218–Serves the southeast area of Commerce, running through a small industrial and rural area of Commerce. It also passes by a few Commerce ISD schools.
Commerce is also just minutes north of Interstate 30.
Commerce is the proposed terminus in the third and final stage for the proposed Blacklands Turnpike, a toll road that would run from far northeastern Dallas County, through Collin and Rockwall counties, as a faster way to get from Dallas to the major cities in Hunt County.
Commerce is served by Commerce Municipal Airport.
Sports
High School Sports
Commerce High School is the only high school in Commerce, they are known as the Commerce Tigers and compete at the 3A level in UIL sports. The Commerce Tigers compete in football (men), volleyball (women), basketball (men and women), softball (women), baseball (men), track and field (men and women), cross country (men and women), powerlifting (men and women), tennis (men and women), and golf (men and women). The Commerce Tigers football team has two state titles from 1999 and 2001. Commerce-Norris High School (defuct) won the state championship for basketball in 1964.
Collegiate Sports
The A&M–Commerce Lions compete in NCAA Division II sports and are a flagship member of the Lone Star Conference. The A&M-Commerce Lions compete in: football (men), volleyball (women), basketball (men and women), soccer (women), softball (women), golf (men and women), track and field (men and women), and cross country (men and women). Football is very popular among the university as well as the town, as fans from surrounding cities including Greenville and Sulphur Springs will come out to support the A&M-Commerce Lions football team, and the average attendance at football games is over 6,000. The A&M-Commerce Lions have earned numerous conference titles in nearly every sport that they compete in. In addition to this they've also earned five national titles, men's basketball (1954-1955), men's golf (1965), football (1972), men's tennis (1972, 1978).
Media
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KETR[7] serves as the radio station for the city of Commerce, Texas A&M University–Commerce, Hunt County, and surrounding cities. The station was founded in 1975 at the A&M-Commerce campus where it still remains today. KETR is a 100,000 watt radio station that can reach up to 75 miles away, the radio frequency is 88.9 FM in honor of the year 1889 which is the year the university was founded. The station provides news, music, and sports for its listeners. In fact the station has two NPR talk shows. Commerce High School football games are broadcast on KETR, as well as A&M–Commerce Lions football and basketball games.
Education
Primary and Secondary Education
The City of Commerce is served by the Commerce Independent School District. CISD currently operates the following schools:
- Commerce Elementary (Pre-K-2)
- AC Williams Elementary (3-5)
- Commerce Middle School (6-8)
- Commerce High School (9-12)
Postsecondary Education
The city of Commerce is home to Texas A&M University–Commerce[8] (formerly known as East Texas State University), a fully accredited and ranked university that offers over 100 different majors, with an enrollment of 12,302 students, 7,808 undergraduates, and 4,494 graduate students. A&M-Commerce was founded in 1889 at its original location in Cooper, Texas, but moved to Commerce after burning down in 1894. The university is ranked #1 in the state of Texas for teaching education and 13th in the nation. The university also remains as the fifth longest continuous operating university in the state of Texas.
Economy
Due to being a rural college town with proximity to Dallas, Commerce has an economy that remained steady for years, but recently has seen some increase with a few new businesses opening and others being renovated. Most of the bigger businesses of the town surround the local university, and the university's student body is bigger than the town itself. Therefore, it is no surprise that the university also happens to be the top employer of the city as shown in the chart below. The downtown area is approximately one mile from the University and is the hub for town festivities. The downtown area includes bars, dining, a fashion retailer, a pet store, an office supplies retailer, a thrift shop, real estate offices, tax preparation offices, an insurance agency, the Chamber of Commerce, banks, and loft style living.
Employment
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| # | Employer | # of Employees |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Texas A&M University-Commerce | 900 |
| 2 | Walmart | 251 |
| 3 | Commerce ISD | 250 |
| 4 | Legacy Housing | 178 |
| 5 | City of Commerce | 85 |
| 6 | Ben E. Keith Company | 84 |
Attractions
Northeast Texas Children's Museum
The city of Commerce is home to the Northeast Texas Children's Museum. The museum provides playful and creative learning experiences for children. There are many hands-on exhibits and programs that cater to children between ages 2 through 10. Many school districts from the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex and the Northeast Texas area visit the museum. [10]
Jim Chapman Lake
Jim Chapman Lake (formerly known as Cooper Lake) is located roughly 25 minutes away from Commerce, between Cooper and Sulphur Springs. Boating, swimming, and fishing are available at Jim Chapman Lake. Cooper Lake State Park is located along the northern shore of the lake. The park contains several picnic areas, campgrounds and a large swimming area on Jim Chapman Lake. The park also contains several hiking and equestrian trails. [11]
Notable Landmark of the City
The most notable landmark of the city of Commerce is the high-rise 12 story building located on the A&M-Commerce campus. This building is called Samuel H. Whitley Hall and is the tallest building between Dallas and Texarkana. [12] The building is named in honor of former university president Samuel Whitley, who served as president of the university from 1924-1946. This 146 foot tall building serves as a dormitory for traditional freshmen on campus.
Notable Natives and Residents
- George C. Butte-Republican candidate for governor of Texas.
- Claire Chennault-World War II General and noted war hero.
- Wade Wilson-Former All-Pro NFL Quarterback and current Quarterbacks Coach for the Dallas Cowboys
- Ben Kweller-American Rock Musician who penned a song called "Commerce, TX" that was loosely based on Kweller's time living in a duplex near college students
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ TxDOT September 2009 meeting
- ↑ KETR
- ↑ A&M-Commerce Website
- ↑ 2011 Commerce CAFR
- ↑ Northeast Texas Children's Museum
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Whitley Hall, tallest building between Dallas and Texarkana
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Commerce, Texas. |
- City of Commerce
- Commerce Independent School District
- Texas A&M University-Commerce
- A&M-Commerce Lions
- KETR
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Municipalities and communities of Hunt County, Texas, United States
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| Footnotes |
‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties
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