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Hard
to imagine today, but back in 1850 residents of New
Braunfels could brag that they lived in the fourth-largest city
in Texas.
That year, barely a half-decade after Texas
joined the union, U.S. Census enumerators found 212,592 people in
the state, including slaves. The census recorded the population of
only 23 cities and towns with all other head counts listed by county.
Galveston
stood as Texas’ largest city in 1850.
In fact, for the next four decades, the island city remained in the
top four. Only the catastrophic 1900 hurricane ended Galveston’s
reign in the biggest-city league. But New
Braunfels once having been Texas’ fourth city seems stranger than
Galveston’s
early-day rankings, considering its status as a major seaport.
With work already under way on the 2010 census, Austin
is currently Texas’ fourth-largest city, behind Houston,
San Antonio and Dallas
in that order. For most of its history, however, the capital city
never even made the top five population-wise.
That said, twice census returns have shown Austin
as bigger than Dallas. Of
course, in various decades, Fredericksburg,
Galveston,
Gonzales, Marshall,
New
Braunfels, Victoria,
and Waco
all were larger than the capital city.
Since 1850, only four Texas cities
have enjoyed the distinction of being the state’s largest. While Galveston
was Texas biggest city in three federal
head counts (1850, 1870 and 1880), San
Antonio held the top spot in 1860, 1900, 1910 and 1920. Dallas
has hit the top of the list only once, in 1890. Houston
became the biggest city in 1930 and has not relinquished the title
since.
Finding decade-by-decade federal population numbers for Texas
cities and towns in not hard, but if anyone has ever put together
a population ranking of Texas largest
cities per decade, I’ve never seen it.
So, for historians, genealogists, and anyone interested in a little
Texas trivia, I’ve compiled the historic
urban population hierarchy and population figures dating back to 1850.
The 1850 and 1860 listings contain the top 10 cities, since there
are some surprises. From 1870 on, only the top 5 cities are listed:
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1850:
1. Galveston
(4,177)
2. San Antonio (3,488)
3. Houston (2,396)
4. New
Braunfels (1,723)
5. Marshall (1,180)
6. Gonzales (1,072)
7. Victoria
(802)
8. Fredericksburg
(754)
9. Austin (629)
10. Corpus
Christi (533)
It’s interesting to note that while 3,758 people lived in Nacogdoches
County in 1850, they were scattered. That kept the county seat of
Nacogdoches,
one of the state’s oldest towns, off the top 10 list. |
1860:
1. San Antonio (8,235)
2. Galveston
(7,307)
3. Houston (4,845)
4. Marshall (4,000)
5. New
Braunfels (3,500)
6. Austin (3,494)
7. Brownsville
(2,784)
8. Sulfur
Springs (2,500)
9. Dallas (2,000)
9. Victoria
(1,986) |
1870:
1. Galveston
(13,818)
2. San Antonio (12,256)
3. Houston (9,332)
4. Waco
(3,008)
5. Dallas (3,000)
By the 1870s, the cities that would be the state’s major metropolitan
areas had grown to a point where they remained in the top 5 list from
there on out, with the exception of Galveston
and Waco.
The seat of McLennan County dropped off in 1880 following one decade
as the fourth-largest city. Fort
Worth joined the municipal big boy’s club in 1890 and El
Paso in 1910. |
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The 2000
Census data held some surprises for long-time Texans, including
the ascendance of Arlington
and Plano
into the top 10 list. But while that’s a notable change, it’s hardly
history yet.
© Mike Cox
"Texas Tales" November
19 , 2009 column
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