Alice (Texas)

Around 1880, the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway announced plans to build a railway through Collins, located 5 kilometers east of present Alice, which was then inhabited by 2,000 people. However, the residents of the city did not want to sell land for the construction of the road, after which the road was moved 5 kilometers to the west, forming the Bandana station at the intersection with the Corpus Christi, San Diego and Rio Grande Railway railway. The bandana turned out to be a convenient place for transporting livestock, and soon an application was submitted for the opening of a post office in the name Kleberg in honor of the San Jacinto battle veteran Robert Kleberg. However, such a name was already taken and residents chose the name Alice in honor of the daughter of the founder of King Ranch, Alice Gertrudis King-Kleberg. The post office was opened and began work in 1888. Over the next few years, all the other inhabitants of Collins moved to the new city ^[3] .

Since 1888, the first private school was opened in Alice, in which 9 students studied. In 1889, the Catholic Church moved to the city from Collins. In 1890, the first public school was built and opened. By 1892, a hotel, two saloons, two shops, a cotton ginner worked in the city, the weekly newspaper Alice Reporter was published, and the construction of the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway railway was completed. In 1896, a telephone line was drawn to Alice. In 1898, a flood occurred in the city, forcing residents to relocate their homes. In 1899, a smallpox epidemic broke out in one of the Mexican areas on the outskirts of the city. Despite the district quarantine and the closure of two schools, the disease spread so quickly that the district authorities ordered the closure of all district schools and allowed to vaccinate all residents of the district for free ^[3] .

In the early 1900s, the city earned the nickname " Windmill Town " for the large number of mills in the region. On June 2, 1904, Alice received a charter and began to form local government bodies. The land for office buildings was donated by one of the first settlers F. B. Nyer. In 1904, the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway to Brownsville , which allowed to stop the coach. Shortly after the creation of Jim Wells County in 1911, Alice was chosen as the administrative center. The city also became the headquarters of the Texas Rangers who served on the South Texas border. The emergence of irrigation strengthened Alice in the status of a transportation center, in addition to livestock transported fruits and vegetables. As a result of the oil boom of the 1920s in the county, the city began to use the slogan "Center of South Texas" ( Eng. Hub City of South Texas ). Alice was engaged in the distribution of supplies of oil and building materials. In 1935, a public library was opened. In 1938, the Alice field was discovered near the city. The event caused another boom ^[3] .

Alice made headlines in national newspapers during the state senator's primary election in 1948. The future president, Lyndon Johnson, and former Governor Kok Stevenson, ran for the Democratic Party . Johnson was accused of a dishonest victory. It was alleged that, in collaboration with local political heavyweight George Parr, he had organized ballot-box stuffing into the ballot box in Alice. The case was investigated by federal agents. In 1949, another scandal broke out after the deputy local sheriff Sam Smithwick shot the owner of the local television channel after the latter said on air that Smithwick owned an institution that provided a dancer for rent ^[3] .

Alice is located in the central part of the district, its coordinates: ^[4] .

According to the US Census Bureau , the area of ​​the city is about 32.6 km ² , of which 31.1 km ^{2 is} occupied by land, and about 1.5 km ² is the water surface ^[4] .

Climate

According to the Köppen climate classification , humid subtropical climate (Cfa) prevails in Alice ^[5] .

According to the 2010 census, 19,104 people lived in the city, there were 6,635 households and 4,906 families. The racial makeup of the city: 86.7% are white , 0.8% are African - Americans , 0.7% are Native Americans, 0.6% are Asians , 0.0% (2 people) are residents of Hawaii or Oceania, 9, 5% are other races, 1.7% are two or more races. The number of Hispanic residents of any race was 85.1% ^[8] .

Out of 6,635 households, children under 18 live in 42.2%. 46.7% of households were couples living together (19.8% with children under 18 years of age), women lived without husbands in 20.1% of households, men lived without wives in 7.1% of households, 26.1% of households were not families. Only one person lived in 22.5% of households, 9.9% were single elderly people (over 65). The average household size was 2.84. The average family size is 3.31 people ^[8] .

The population of the city by age range was as follows: 32% are residents under 20 years old, 26% are between the ages of 20 and 39, 28.8% are between 40 and 64, 13.3% are 65 and older. The average age is 33.5 years ^[8] .

According to a five-year survey from 2011 to 2015, the average household income in Alice is $ 45,606 a year, and the average household income is $ 62,384. The per capita income for the city is $ 29,828. About 6.8% of families and 9.3% of the population are below the poverty line. Including 13.8% of those under the age of 18 years and 6.6% of those aged 65 and over ^[9] .

The city is governed by a mayor and a four-member city council. Each council member, like the mayor, is elected by the whole city for two years ^[10] . The city council elects a deputy mayor from among its members ^[11] .

Other important positions for which employees are hired are ^[12] :

• City Manager

• Deputy City Manager

• Municipal judge
• City Attorney
• CFO
• Police chief
• Fire Chief
• Head of Public Works
• City clerk
• City Development Director
• Head of the airport
• Head of Human Resources
• Head of Engineering Department

The main highways passing through Alice are:

•   motorway 281 USA goes north to George West and south to the city of Falfurrias
•   Texas State Motorway 44 goes west to the Texas city of San Diego and east to Corpus Christi
•   Texas State Motorway 359 begins in Alice and runs northeast to the city of Mathis

The city has Alice International Airport. The airport has two runways 1828 and 1369 meters long ^[13] . The closest commercial . The airport is located about 60 kilometers east of Alice.

The city is served by the Alice Independent School District. There are also five private schools for students of different ages.

A branch of Coastal Bend College operates in Alice, providing professional and academic courses for certification and a specialist degree following a two-year education. The college also provides training and educational classes for local company employees.

According to the city’s financial report for the fiscal year 2015, Alice owned assets of $ 114.88 million, the city's debt amounted to $ 59.68 million. In 2016, city revenues amounted to $ 32.07 million, and expenses - $ 33.53 million ^[12] .

The main employers in the city are ^[12] :

The city has leisure parks, golf courses and swimming pools. The relative proximity to Corpus Christi, Padre Island and the Gulf of Mexico make Alice attractive for tourists. Every year in May, the city hosts the Fiesta Bandana festival ^[3] .

The city housed the IDEAL Records recording studio, founded by Armando Marrokin. The studio specialized in techno music , popular in the region. For a while, Alice had the Tehano Hall of Fame.

• Official site Alice (neopr.) .
• Chamber of Commerce Alice (Neopr.) .
• Information about the city of Alice (English) (HTML). Handbook of Texas Online . Texas State Historical Association.
• Information about the city of Alice on texasescapes.com (neopr.) .
• Alice Independent School District (Neopr.) .