Brady, Texas facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Brady, Texas
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Brady City Hall
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| Nickname(s):
The Heart of Texas
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| Country | United States |
| State | Texas |
| County | McCulloch |
| Area | |
| • Total | 11.44 sq mi (29.63 km2) |
| • Land | 8.94 sq mi (23.16 km2) |
| • Water | 2.50 sq mi (6.47 km2) |
| Elevation | 1,677 ft (511 m) |
| Population
(2020)
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| • Total | 5,118 |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (Central (CST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
| ZIP code |
76825
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| Area code(s) | 325 |
| FIPS code | 48-09916 |
| GNIS feature ID | 1352814 |
Brady is a city in McCulloch County, Texas, United States. Brady refers to itself as the "Heart of Texas", as it is the city closest to the geographical center of the state, which is about 15 miles northeast of Brady. Its population was 5,118 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of McCulloch County.
Contents
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, Brady has a total area of 11.5 square miles (30 km2), of which 9.2 sq mi (24 km2) are land and 2.3 sq mi (6.0 km2) (20.16%) are covered by water.
Major highways
U.S. Highway 87
U.S. Highway 190
U.S. Highway 283
U.S. Highway 377
State Highway 71
Climate
The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the Köppen climate classification, Brady has a humid subtropical climate, Cfa on climate maps.
| Climate data for Brady, Texas (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1893–1897, 1911–1913, 1937–present) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 91 (33) |
99 (37) |
97 (36) |
102 (39) |
107 (42) |
110 (43) |
110 (43) |
108 (42) |
109 (43) |
103 (39) |
92 (33) |
91 (33) |
110 (43) |
| Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 58.4 (14.7) |
62.4 (16.9) |
69.7 (20.9) |
77.2 (25.1) |
83.6 (28.7) |
90.0 (32.2) |
93.2 (34.0) |
93.7 (34.3) |
86.8 (30.4) |
78.4 (25.8) |
67.4 (19.7) |
59.6 (15.3) |
76.7 (24.8) |
| Daily mean °F (°C) | 46.9 (8.3) |
50.6 (10.3) |
58.0 (14.4) |
65.2 (18.4) |
73.1 (22.8) |
79.6 (26.4) |
82.5 (28.1) |
82.7 (28.2) |
76.0 (24.4) |
66.5 (19.2) |
56.1 (13.4) |
48.2 (9.0) |
65.5 (18.6) |
| Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 35.3 (1.8) |
38.9 (3.8) |
46.3 (7.9) |
53.1 (11.7) |
62.6 (17.0) |
69.2 (20.7) |
71.8 (22.1) |
71.6 (22.0) |
65.2 (18.4) |
54.6 (12.6) |
44.7 (7.1) |
36.8 (2.7) |
54.2 (12.3) |
| Record low °F (°C) | 0 (−18) |
1 (−17) |
7 (−14) |
26 (−3) |
37 (3) |
47 (8) |
54 (12) |
50 (10) |
33 (1) |
23 (−5) |
10 (−12) |
−2 (−19) |
−2 (−19) |
| Average precipitation inches (mm) | 1.33 (34) |
1.71 (43) |
2.33 (59) |
2.05 (52) |
3.79 (96) |
2.88 (73) |
2.11 (54) |
2.21 (56) |
2.76 (70) |
2.71 (69) |
1.87 (47) |
1.63 (41) |
27.38 (695) |
| Average snowfall inches (cm) | 0.0 (0.0) |
0.1 (0.25) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.1 (0.25) |
0.1 (0.25) |
0.3 (0.76) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in) | 5.8 | 5.6 | 6.2 | 5.4 | 7.6 | 5.7 | 4.5 | 5.2 | 5.7 | 6.0 | 5.6 | 6.1 | 69.4 |
| Average snowy days (≥ 0.1 in) | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.3 |
| Source: NOAA | |||||||||||||
Demographics
| Historical population | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1880 | 115 | — | |
| 1890 | 560 | 387.0% | |
| 1910 | 2,669 | — | |
| 1920 | 2,197 | −17.7% | |
| 1930 | 3,983 | 81.3% | |
| 1940 | 5,002 | 25.6% | |
| 1950 | 5,944 | 18.8% | |
| 1960 | 5,338 | −10.2% | |
| 1970 | 5,557 | 4.1% | |
| 1980 | 5,969 | 7.4% | |
| 1990 | 5,946 | −0.4% | |
| 2000 | 5,523 | −7.1% | |
| 2010 | 5,528 | 0.1% | |
| 2020 | 5,118 | −7.4% | |
| U.S. Decennial Census | |||
2020 census
| Race | Number | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| White (NH) | 2,930 | 57.25% |
| Black or African American (NH) | 84 | 1.64% |
| Native American or Alaska Native (NH) | 7 | 0.14% |
| Asian (NH) | 37 | 0.72% |
| Some Other Race (NH) | 9 | 0.18% |
| Mixed/Multi-Racial (NH) | 124 | 2.42% |
| Hispanic or Latino | 1,927 | 37.65% |
| Total | 5,118 |
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 5,118 people, 1,978 households, and 1,225 families residing in the city.
History
When the area was settled in the 1870s, the community was named Brady City after Brady Creek, which runs through town. The name was shortened to Brady when the town was incorporated in 1906. In 1787–1788, Spanish explorer José Mares crossed the creek near the site of present Brady. Henry and Nancy Fulcher, the first settlers on Brady Creek, donated land for the townsite in the mid-1870s. Allison Ogden and his father-in-law, Ben Henton, built a store in 1875. A post office opened in 1876. After residents of McCulloch County chose Brady as county seat on May 15, 1876, the town grew fairly quickly. Brady had approximately 50 residents in 1877, and a stone courthouse was completed in 1878.
Thomas Maples began weekly publication of The Brady Sentinel in 1880; by 1884, Brady had two churches, a district school, three stores, two hotels, and 300 residents.
Stock raising was the primary occupation in the Brady area before 1900. In the 1870s and 1880s, local ranchers drove their cattle to markets in Kansas. Most other trade was with Brownwood and Lampasas. The number of farms and fences increased with the influx of immigrants in the late 1880s and 1890s. Poultry, sheep, goats, cotton, and pecans joined cattle as important sources of income for area residents.
When the Fort Worth and Rio Grande Railway arrived in 1903, Brady became a principal shipping point for Central Texas. The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe came to Brady in 1912. By 1914, the town had grown to include four churches, two schools, two banks, several processing plants, manufacturing and supply outlets, and 2,669 residents.
In 1926, Brady residents celebrated the building of 42-acre Richards Park by holding a two-day barbecue on the Fourth of July weekend; it was such a success that the celebration was labeled the "July Jubilee" and became an annual event.
Curtis Field opened just north of Brady in 1942 as a pilot-training school. Also during World War II, a German prisoner-of-war camp was built three miles east of the town; it housed more than 300 Germans, most of them members of Rommel's Afrika Korps.
Brady grew slowly from the 1920s through the 1950s, with population estimates reaching a peak of 6,800 in 1958. In 1959, the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway abandoned the section of track between Brownwood and Brady, thereby reducing Brady's access to outside markets. The population fell to 5,338 by 1961, and subsequently stabilized. Brady Reservoir was completed in 1963 for flood control, municipal and industrial water needs, and recreation. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe abandoned the track between Brady and Eden in 1972, leaving the town with only a branch track to connect it with the main line at Lometa, in Lampasas County.
Brady had 5,925 residents and 142 businesses in 1988. It was principally a farming and ranching community. Its industry included a mohair-combing plant and sand-mining operations. The Francis King Art Gallery and Museum houses works by King, a painter and sculptor, and a collection of restored antique cars. The stone courthouse, built in 1900, was renovated in 2009. A horse racetrack, G. Rollie White Downs, opened in 1989 and closed in 1990. Brady's population in 1990 was 5,946, but dropped to 5,528 in 2010.
Notable people
- Scott Appleton, 1963 Outland Trophy winner, was an AFL and NFL player
- Rita Crocker Clements, was a Republican Party organizer, an activist in historic preservation, and a First Lady of the U.S. state of Texas.
- Norma Jean, country music singer, was a member of The Porter Wagoner Show and the Grand Ole Opry during the 1960s
- Terry Manning, music producer, lived in Brady as a child
- James Earl Rudder taught and coached football at Brady High School from 1933 to 1938. He was mayor of Brady from 1946 to 1952 and later became president of Texas A&M University
- Dan Collins Taylor, from rural Doole near Brady, was a rodeo performer and promoter
Education
Around 1,200 students in Brady and Melvin attend Brady Independent School District schools. Brady Elementary consists of kindergarten-grade 5 and the principal is Christy Finn. Brady Middle School consists of grades 6–8 and the principal is Shona Moore. Brady High School consists of grades 9–12 with Russell Baldwin as principal. Hector Martinez serves as superintendent.
Brady High School is a Texas Education Agency "Recognized" campus.
See also
In Spanish: Brady (Texas) para niños
