South Houston, Texas facts for kids

City of South Houston
City of South Houston
	City
	Marker for the city of South Houston
	; Location of South Houston, Texas
Country	United States
State	Texas
County	Harris
Area
• Total	3.0 sq mi (7.8 km2)
• Land	3.0 sq mi (7.8 km2)
• Water	0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2)
Elevation	30 ft (9 m)
Population (2010)
• Total	16,983
• Density	5,660/sq mi (2,177/km2)
Time zone	Central (CST) (UTC-6)
• Summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)
ZIP code	77587
Area code(s)	713
FIPS code	48-69020
GNIS feature ID	1347476
Website	www.southhoustontx.org

For the southern part of Houston, see Houston.

South Houston is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, within Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan area and Harris County. The population was 16,983 at the 2010 census. It is bordered by the cities of Houston and Pasadena.

History

C.S. Woods of the Western Land Company founded the settlement of Dumont in 1907. A post office appeared in 1910. In 1913 Dumont was incorporated as the city of South Houston. Because of the 1913 incorporation, Houston did not incorporate South Houston's territory into its city limits, while Houston annexed surrounding areas that were unincorporated. South Houston's initial industrial activity consisted of shipping produce along the Galveston, Houston and Henderson Railroad. The hurricane of 1915 destroyed many of the local industries. The establishment of the Houston Ship Channel resulted in the establishment of manufacturing industries inland, including in South Houston. Between the 1940s and the early 1960s South Houston found rapid population growth. The city had 7,523 inhabitants in 1960. In 1980 South Houston had 11,782 inhabitants and 303 businesses. In 1990 14,207 inhabitants lived in South Houston.

Elephants belonging to former South Houston mayor George Christy, a circus owner, assisted the construction of the Spencer Highway.

From the 1980 census to the 1990 census, Hispanics began to move into South Houston by an amount between 1,000 and 3,500 per square mile. Most Hispanics in South Houston were of Mexican descent.

Geography

Map of South Houston

South Houston is located at 29°39′40″N 95°13′47″W / 29.66111°N 95.22972°W / 29.66111; -95.22972 (29.660980, -95.229787).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 7.8 km², none of which is covered with water.

Demographics

Historical population
Census	Pop.	%±
1930	612	—
1940	982	60.5%
1950	4,126	320.2%
1960	7,532	82.5%
1970	11,527	53.0%
1980	13,293	15.3%
1990	14,207	6.9%
2000	15,833	11.4%
2010	16,983	7.3%
Est. 2015	17,544	3.3%
U.S. Decennial Census

SouthHoustonPoliceDepartmentRearEntranceTexas

South Houston police station/Robert A. Anderson Police Administration Building (rear entrance)

South Houston fire station

As of the census of 2000, there were 15,833 people, 4,593 households, and 3,697 families residing in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 33% White, 1.04% African American, 0.60% Native American, 0.70% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 27.74% from other races, and 4.53% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 77.93% of the population.

There were 4,593 households out of which 47.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.1% were married couples living together, 13.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 19.5% were non-families. 15.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.45 and the average family size was 3.86.

In the city, the population was spread out with 34.1% under the age of 18, 11.7% from 18 to 24, 30.8% from 25 to 44, 16.5% from 45 to 64, and 6.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 28 years. For every 100 females there were 104.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 103.6 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $31,924, and the median income for a family was $34,903. Males had a median income of $27,360 versus $19,870 for females. The per capita income for the city was $12,308. About 17.3% of families and 20.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 25.8% of those under age 18 and 10.5% of those age 65 or over.