Cotulla, Texas facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Cotulla, Texas
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Downtown Cotulla
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 Cotulla, Texas
Location in Texas
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| Country | United States |
| State | Texas |
| County | La Salle |
| Area | |
| • Total | 2.01 sq mi (5.21 km2) |
| • Land | 2.01 sq mi (5.21 km2) |
| • Water | 0.00 sq mi (0.00 km2) |
| Elevation | 440 ft (130 m) |
| Population
(2020)
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| • Total | 3,718 |
| • Density | 1,850/sq mi (713.6/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (Central (CST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
| ZIP codes |
78001, 78014
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| Area code(s) | 830 |
| FIPS code | 48-17216 |
| GNIS feature ID | 2410247 |
Cotulla (/kəˈtjuːlə/ kə-TEW-lə) is a city in and the county seat of La Salle County, Texas, United States. Its population was 3,718 as of the 2020 census.
History
Immigrant Joseph Cotulla, who was reared in Silesia, then a part of Prussia, migrated to the United States in the 1850s. He joined the Union Army in Brownsville, Texas. He lived in Atascosa County, but arrived in La Salle County in 1868 to establish what became a large ranching operation. After learning that the International-Great Northern Railroad intended to lay tracks in La Salle County, he worked to establish the town that bears his name.
In 1881, Cotulla donated 120 acres of his land to the railroad, and in 1882, a depot was constructed there. In 1883, the town was granted a post office. The same year, Cotulla became the county seat by special election.
Joseph Cotulla's great-grandson, William Lawrence Cotulla (born around 1936), a former storekeeper in Cotulla, is a rancher in La Salle, Dimmit, and Webb Counties. In a 2013 interview with the Laredo Morning Times, William Cotulla noted the community of his birth has changed completely in less than 80 years, having gone through several phases, beginning with emphasis on farming, then ranching, thereafter hunting leases, and now petroleum and natural gas through the Eagle Ford Shale boom. With declining gasoline prices, though, the Eagle Ford boom took a sharp downturn by the fall of 2015.
In 1973, two railroad locomotives collided in Cotulla, and three people were killed as a result. In 2008, the area around Cotulla burned in a huge grass fire.
Geography
Cotulla is located at 28°26′3″N 99°14′11″W / 28.43417°N 99.23639°W (28.434144, –99.236343). This is 81 mi (147 km) southwest of San Antonio.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.0 square miles (5.2 km2), all land. The Nueces River flows through southern Cotulla in a southeastward direction to the Gulf of Mexico, near Corpus Christi.
Climate
According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Cotulla has a humid subtropical climate, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps.
| Climate data for Cotulla, Texas (Cotulla–La Salle County Airport), 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1901–present | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 94 (34) |
100 (38) |
106 (41) |
106 (41) |
109 (43) |
116 (47) |
111 (44) |
111 (44) |
112 (44) |
104 (40) |
95 (35) |
92 (33) |
116 (47) |
| Mean maximum °F (°C) | 85.9 (29.9) |
90.3 (32.4) |
93.6 (34.2) |
99.3 (37.4) |
103.2 (39.6) |
105.0 (40.6) |
104.5 (40.3) |
106.3 (41.3) |
102.4 (39.1) |
97.1 (36.2) |
89.7 (32.1) |
84.7 (29.3) |
108.1 (42.3) |
| Average high °F (°C) | 67.4 (19.7) |
73.6 (23.1) |
79.7 (26.5) |
86.0 (30.0) |
92.8 (33.8) |
97.9 (36.6) |
99.2 (37.3) |
100.3 (37.9) |
93.9 (34.4) |
86.6 (30.3) |
75.7 (24.3) |
68.7 (20.4) |
85.2 (29.5) |
| Daily mean °F (°C) | 55.7 (13.2) |
60.9 (16.1) |
67.2 (19.6) |
73.4 (23.0) |
80.7 (27.1) |
85.7 (29.8) |
87.0 (30.6) |
87.7 (30.9) |
82.4 (28.0) |
74.7 (23.7) |
64.0 (17.8) |
56.8 (13.8) |
73.0 (22.8) |
| Average low °F (°C) | 43.9 (6.6) |
48.3 (9.1) |
54.8 (12.7) |
60.7 (15.9) |
68.6 (20.3) |
73.6 (23.1) |
74.7 (23.7) |
75.0 (23.9) |
70.8 (21.6) |
62.8 (17.1) |
52.4 (11.3) |
44.9 (7.2) |
60.9 (16.0) |
| Mean minimum °F (°C) | 27.9 (−2.3) |
30.7 (−0.7) |
35.9 (2.2) |
44.0 (6.7) |
54.8 (12.7) |
68.0 (20.0) |
70.1 (21.2) |
70.5 (21.4) |
60.1 (15.6) |
42.9 (6.1) |
33.1 (0.6) |
28.6 (−1.9) |
25.3 (−3.7) |
| Record low °F (°C) | 16 (−9) |
16 (−9) |
23 (−5) |
36 (2) |
44 (7) |
56 (13) |
62 (17) |
63 (17) |
50 (10) |
35 (2) |
26 (−3) |
20 (−7) |
16 (−9) |
| Average precipitation inches (mm) | 0.85 (22) |
1.26 (32) |
1.57 (40) |
1.33 (34) |
3.01 (76) |
2.20 (56) |
2.26 (57) |
1.67 (42) |
2.98 (76) |
2.39 (61) |
1.15 (29) |
1.01 (26) |
21.68 (551) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in) | 6.1 | 5.7 | 5.4 | 4.9 | 6.3 | 4.8 | 5.9 | 3.5 | 7.1 | 4.6 | 4.4 | 6.0 | 64.7 |
| Source 1: NOAA | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: National Weather Service | |||||||||||||
Demographics
| Historical population | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1890 | 672 | — | |
| 1910 | 1,880 | — | |
| 1920 | 1,058 | −43.7% | |
| 1930 | 3,175 | 200.1% | |
| 1940 | 3,633 | 14.4% | |
| 1950 | 4,418 | 21.6% | |
| 1960 | 3,960 | −10.4% | |
| 1970 | 3,415 | −13.8% | |
| 1980 | 3,912 | 14.6% | |
| 1990 | 3,694 | −5.6% | |
| 2000 | 3,614 | −2.2% | |
| 2010 | 3,603 | −0.3% | |
| 2020 | 3,718 | 3.2% | |
| U.S. Decennial Census | |||
2020 census
| Race | Number | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| White (NH) | 424 | 11.4% |
| Black or African American (NH) | 9 | 0.24% |
| Native American or Alaska Native (NH) | 1 | 0.03% |
| Asian (NH) | 4 | 0.11% |
| Some Other Race (NH) | 5 | 0.13% |
| Mixed/Multi-Racial (NH) | 31 | 0.83% |
| Hispanic or Latino | 3,244 | 87.25% |
| Total | 3,718 |
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 3,718 people, 1,485 households, and 1,110 families residing in the city.
Education
- Cotulla is within the Cotulla Independent School District. Cotulla High School, with grades 9–12, is located east of town. The modern structure is divided into several noncontiguous units.
Notable people
- Josh Beckett, retired Major League Baseball pitcher, owns Herradura Ranch, a 7,000-acre (28 km2) deer-hunting enclave located about 28 miles (45 km) from Cotulla
- Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, was the wealthiest person in the world, as of December 2017. His maternal ancestors were settlers who lived in Texas. Over the generations, the family acquired a 25,000-acre (100 km2) ranch in Cotulla
- John Lewis Gaddis, known as the "Dean of Cold War Historians", was born in Cotulla in 1941
- O. Henry, the short story writer, lived on a sheep ranch near Cotulla in the early 1880s with the successful goal of improving his health in the dry climate
- Lyndon B. Johnson, U.S. President; taught public school in Cotulla from 1928 to 1929
- Hailey Kinsel, three-time world champion barrel racer, was born and raised on her parents' cattle ranch near Cotulla
- Phil Lyne, a former rodeo cowboy and 1979 ProRodeo Hall of Fame inductee, resides in Cotulla
- J.B. Mauney, an American professional rodeo cowboy who specializes in bull riding, and competes in the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) and Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) circuits, he is a two time PBR World Champion in 2013 and 2015. He resides in Cotulla.
- Kevin Patrick Yeary, judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, was born in Cotulla and raised in Laredo
See also
In Spanish: Cotulla (Texas) para niños
