Bell County is a county A county is a land area of local government within a country. A county may have cities and towns within its area. Originally, in continental Europe, a county was the land under the jurisdiction of a count (conte, comte, conde, Graf) located in the U.S. state A U.S. state is any one of 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of commonwealth rather than state. State citizenship is of Texas Houston is the largest city in Texas and the fourth-largest in the United States, while San Antonio is the second largest in the state and seventh largest in the United States. Dallas–Fort Worth and Greater Houston are the fourth and sixth largest United States metropolitan areas, respectively. Other major cities include El Paso and Austin—the. It is part of the Killeen Killeen is a city in Bell County, Texas, United States. The population was 86,911 at the 2000 census.As of 2009 Killeen sits at 116,934 people. It is a "principal city" of the Killeen–Temple–Fort Hood Metropolitan Statistical Area–Temple Temple is a city in Bell County, Texas, United States. Located near the county seat of Belton, Temple lies in the region referred to as Central Texas. Located off Interstate 35, Temple is 65 miles north of Austin and 34 miles south of Waco. As of the 2000 census, the population was 54,514, but a 2006 estimate places the current population at more–Fort Hood Fort Hood is a United States military post located outside of Killeen, Texas. The post is named after Confederate General John Bell Hood. It is located halfway between Austin and Waco, about 60 miles from each, within the U.S. state of Texas. The main cantonment of Fort Hood is a census-designated place (CDP) in Bell County, Texas that as of the 20 Metropolitan Statistical Area The Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood Metropolitan Statistical Area is a metropolitan area in Central Texas that covers three counties - Bell, Coryell, and Lampasas. As of the 2000 census, the MSA had a population of 330,714. As of 2000, the population was 237,974 (however, 2008 estimates place the population at 285,084 according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the Texas Data Center). Its county seat A county seat is a term for an administrative center for a county or civil parish, primarily used in the United States. In the Northeast United States, the statutory term often is shire town, but colloquially county seat is the term in use there. Parts of the Canadian Maritimes also use the term shire town. In England, Wales and Ireland, the term is Belton Belton is a city in Bell County, Texas, United States. The population was 14,623 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Bell County[1]. The center of population In demographics, the center of population of a region is a geographical point that describes a centerpoint of the region's population. There are several different ways of defining such a "center point", leading to different geographical locations; these are often confused of Texas is located in Bell County, in the town of Holland Holland is a town in Bell County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,102 at the 2000 census. The center of population of Texas is located in Holland. It is part of the Killeen–Temple–Fort Hood Metropolitan Statistical Area [2]. Bell is named for Peter Hansborough Bell, the third governor of Texas The following is a list of the Governors of the State of Texas. The governor is the head of the executive branch of Texas's government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Texas Legislature, and to convene the legislature. The governor may grant pardons.
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History Timeline
- 7000 b.c. Indigenous peoples The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North, Central, and South America, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those peoples. They are often also referred to as Native Americans, Aboriginals, First Nations , Amerigine[dubious – discuss], and by Christopher Columbus' geographical and first inhabitants. [3] [4] Earliest known are Tonkawa The Tonkawa are a Native American people indigenous to present-day Oklahoma and Texas. They once spoke the Tonkawa language, an isolate not related to languages of other tribes. It is now extinct. The tribe is federally recognized and most members live in Oklahoma. Early native American inhabitants also include Lipan Apache Lipan Apache' are Southern Athabascan people who are aboriginal to present-day Texas, New Mexico, Colorado and the northern Mexican states of Chihuahua, Nuevo León, Coahuila, and Tamaulipas prior to the 17th century. Present-day Lipans mostly live throughout the U.S. Southwest, in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, as well as with the Mescalero on, Waco The Wichita are a tribe of Native Americans, indigenous inhabitants of North America, who traditionally spoke Wichita, a Caddoan language. The tribe has lived in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Today, they are federally recognized as the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes, Anadarko, Kiowa The Kiowa are a nation of American Indians who migrated from the Northern Plains to their present location in Southwestern Oklahoma. They are a federally recognized tribe, the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma, with over 11,500 members, Comanche The Comanche are a Native American ethnic group whose historic range consisted of present-day eastern New Mexico, southern Colorado, northeastern Arizona, southern Kansas, all of Oklahoma, and most of northwest Texas. Originally, the Comanches were hunter-gatherers, with a typical Plains Indian culture. There may have been as many as 45,000.
- 1519-1685 Hernando Cortez and Alonso Álvarez de Pineda Alonzo Álvarez de Pineda was a Spanish explorer and cartographer. His map marks the first document in Texas history claim Texas for Spain Spain (pronounced /ˈspeɪn/ spayn; Spanish: España, pronounced [esˈpaɲa] ( listen)), officially the Kingdom of Spain (Spanish: Reino de España), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.[note 6] Its mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for.
- 1685-1690 France France is a founding member state of the European Union and is the largest one by area. France has been a major power for several centuries with strong cultural, economic, military and political influence in Europe and in the world. During the 17th and 18th centuries, France colonised great parts of North America; during the 19th and early 20th plants its flag on Texas soil, but departs after only five years. [5]
- 1690-1821 Spanish missions and settlements flourish in Texas.
- 1821 Mexico In Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica many cultures matured into advanced civilizations such as the Olmec, the Toltec, the Teotihuacan, the Zapotec, the Maya and the Aztec before the first contact with Europeans. In 1521, Spain conquered and colonized the territory, which was administered as the viceroyalty of New Spain which would eventually become Mexico claims its independence from Spain. Anglos from the north settle in Texas and claim Mexican citizenship.
- 1829, September 15 - Mexican President Vicente Ramon Guerrero Vicente Ramón Guerrero Saldaña was one of the leading revolutionary generals of the Mexican War of Independence, who fought against Spain for independence in the early 19th century, and served briefly as President of Mexico. He was also the grandfather of the Mexican politician and intellectual Vicente Riva Palacio, himself an ex-slave of Spanish Spanish people or Spaniards constitute the European nation and ethnic group native of Spain, in the Iberian Peninsula, which forms the southwest of Europe. The Spanish nationality is in essence made up of regional nationalities, reflecting the complex history of Spain. Spain, in its current boundaries, was formed out of a number of predecessor, African The term African people refers to people who live in Africa, or people who trace their ancestry to Africa. This includes members of the "African diaspora" resulting from the Atlantic Slave Trade such as Black British, Afro-Latin Americans, African Americans, Afro-Caribbeans, and Black Canadians. In Western and westernized cultures , the and Native American descent, emancipates all slaves within the Republic of Mexico: [6] [7]
1st - Slavery is abolished in the republic.
- 2nd - Consequently, those who have been until now considered slaves are free.
- 3rd - When the circumstances of the treasury may permit, the owners of the slaves will be indemnified in the mode that the laws may provide. And in order that every part of this decree may be fully complied with, let it be printed, published, and circulated.
- Given at the Federal Palace of Mexico, the 15th of September, 1829.
- Vicente Guerrero To José María Bocanegra'
- 1834-1835 Little River becomes site for settlers from Nashville Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, music, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home to a large number of colleges and: families of Captain Goldsby Childers, Robert Davison, John Fulcher, Moses Griffin, John Needham, Michael Reed, William Taylor, and Judge Orville T.Tyler.
- 1836 The settlements are deserted during the Runaway Scrape [8], reoccupied, deserted again after the Elmwood Creek Blood Scrape [9], re-occupied again. Texas Ranger George Erath establishes a fort on Little River [10].
- 1836
- March 2 - Texas Declaration of Independence The Texas Declaration of Independence was the formal declaration of independence of the Republic of Texas from Mexico in the Texas Revolution. It was adopted at the Convention of 1836 at Washington-on-the-Brazos on March 2, 1836, and formally signed the following day after errors were noted in the text from Mexico establishes the Republic of Texas The Republic of Texas was an independent state in North America, bordering the United States and Mexico, that existed from 1836 to 1846.
- March 6 - The Alamo The Battle of the Alamo was a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna launched an assault on the Alamo Mission near San Antonio de Béxar (modern-day San Antonio, Texas). All but two of the Texian defenders were killed. Santa Anna's perceived cruelty falls.
- April 21-22 - Battle of San Jacinto The Battle of San Jacinto, fought on April 21, 1836, in present-day Harris County, Texas, was the decisive battle of the Texas Revolution. Led by General Sam Houston, the Texas Army engaged and defeated General Antonio López de Santa Anna's Mexican forces in a fight that lasted just eighteen minutes. About 700 of the Mexican soldiers were killed, Antonio López de Santa Anna Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón , often known as Santa Anna or López de Santa Anna, was a Mexican political leader, general and President who greatly influenced early Mexican and Spanish politics and government. He first fought against the independence from Spain, and then supported it. He rose to the captured.
- March 6 - The Alamo The Battle of the Alamo was a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna launched an assault on the Alamo Mission near San Antonio de Béxar (modern-day San Antonio, Texas). All but two of the Texian defenders were killed. Santa Anna's perceived cruelty falls.
- 1845, December 29 - Texas Annexation The Texas Annexation of 1845 was the voluntary annexation of the Republic of Texas to the United States of America as the twenty-eighth state. It quickly led to the Mexican War in which the U.S. captured further territory west to the Pacific Ocean. Texas claimed but never controlled parts of present-day Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and by the United States
- 1843-44 Settlers return.
- 1845 University of Mary Hardin–Baylor founded by the Republic of Texas The Republic of Texas was an independent state in North America, bordering the United States and Mexico, that existed from 1836 to 1846 as “Baylor Female College”
- 1846, May 13 - The United States Congress officially declares war on Mexico.
- 1848, February 2 - Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is the peace treaty, largely dictated by the United States (U.S.) to the interim government of a militarily occupied Mexico City, that ended the Mexican-American War (1846 – 48). The treaty provided for the Mexican Cession of 1.36 million km² (525,000 square miles) to the United States in exchange for 15 million officially ends the Mexican-American War The Mexican–American War was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848 in the wake of the 1845 U.S. annexation of Texas, which Mexico considered part of its territory despite the 1836 Texas Revolution.
- 1850
- Bell County is formed and named for Texas Governor Peter Hansborough Bell.
- Population 600 whites – 60 black slaves
- 1851 County seat is Belton Belton is a city in Bell County, Texas, United States. The population was 14,623 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Bell County
- 1859 Last serious Indian raid of the area.
- 1860 Re-survey of the line between Bell and Milam County Milam County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. In 2000, its population was 24,238. Milam County is named for Benjamin Rush Milam , an early settler and a soldier in the Texas Revolution. The seat of the county is Cameron. Bell County assumes its present boundaries.
- 1861
- County votes for secession The state of Texas declared its secession from the United States on February 1, 1861, and joined the Confederate States of America on March 2, 1861, replacing its governor, Sam Houston, when he refused to take an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy. During the subsequent American Civil War, Texas was most useful for supplying soldiers for from the Union.
- February 1 - Texas secedes The Ordinance of Secession was the document drafted and ratified in 1860 and 1861 by the states officially seceding from the United States of America. Each state ratified its own ordinance of secession, typically by means of a specially elected convention or general referendum from the Union
- 1862-1865 Union sympathizers and Confederate deserters hole up in"Camp Safety."
- 1863, January 1 – The Emancipation Proclamation The Emancipation Proclamation consists of two executive orders issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War. The first one, issued September 22, 1862, declared the freedom of all slaves in any state of the Confederate States of America that did not return to Union control by January 1, 1863. The second order,. [11]
- 1865
- April 9 – Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee was a career United States Army officer and combat engineer. He became the commanding general of the Confederate army in the American Civil War and a postwar icon of the South's "lost cause." formally surrenders to Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses Simpson Grant born Hiram Ulysses Grant was the 18th President of the United States (1869–77) as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under the command of Grant, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America. His image as a war hero was at the Appomattox Court House.
- April 15 – President Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and ending slavery. Before his election in 1860 as the first Republican president, Lincoln, reared in a family of dies of a head wound inflicted by assassin John Wilkes Booth John Wilkes Booth was an American stage actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre, in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. Booth was a member of the prominent 19th century Booth theatrical family from Maryland and, by the 1860s, was a well known actor. He was also a Confederate sympathizer vehement in his denunciation of.
- June 19 – Major General Gordon Granger Gordon Granger was a career U.S. army officer and a Union general during the American Civil War. He distinguished himself at the Battle of Chickamauga arrives in Galveston Galveston is a coastal city located on Galveston Island in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2005 U.S. Census estimate, the city had a total population of 57,466 within an area of 208 square miles (540 km2). Located within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area, the city is the seat and second-largest city of Galveston County in to enforce the emancipation of all slaves. It is the first time African Americans in Texas know of the Emancipation. The date becomes celebrated annually in Texas as Juneteenth Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, is a holiday in the United States honoring African American heritage by commemorating the announcement of the abolition of slavery in the U.S. State of Texas in 1865. Celebrated on June 19, the term is a portmanteau of June and nineteenth, and is recognized as a state holiday in 36 states, and later as an official state holiday known as Emancipation Day. [12]
- April 15 – President Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and ending slavery. Before his election in 1860 as the first Republican president, Lincoln, reared in a family of dies of a head wound inflicted by assassin John Wilkes Booth John Wilkes Booth was an American stage actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre, in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. Booth was a member of the prominent 19th century Booth theatrical family from Maryland and, by the 1860s, was a well known actor. He was also a Confederate sympathizer vehement in his denunciation of.
- 1867 Belton Women’s Commonwealth, the first women’s movement in Central Texas, is formed by Martha McWhirter. The group provides shelter to women in abusive relationships. [13]
- 1870, March 30 - The United States Congress readmits Texas into the Union
- 1865-1877 Reconstruction in the county is so troubled that Federal troops are quartered in Belton. Corruption, lawlessness and racial divides are rampant. Bell County has a local version of the KKK.
- 1875 Miriam A. Ferguson, first woman Governor of Texas, is born in Bell County.
- 1881 Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway, the first railroad to be built in Bell County, establishes Temple as its headquarters.
- 1884 Current Bell County Courthouse is built. Renaissance Revival design is by architect Jasper N. Preston and Sons. [14]
- 1905 The Belton and Temple Interurban electric railway is constructed,
- 1920’s Ku Klux Klan revived in Bell County.
- 1925 Miriam A. Ferguson is inaugurated as Governor [15].
- 1926 Temple College opens.
- 1933 Miriam A. Ferguson is inaugurated for her second, but non-consecutive, term as Governor.
- 1942 Fort Hood opens as a military training base.
- 1956 Killeen school board votes to integrate local high school. [16]
- 1965 Central Texas College founded in Killeen.
- 1980 Killeen is the largest city in Bell County.
- 1991, October 16 - Luby's massacre - George Jo Hennard Jr. kills 23 people, wounds 20 others, kills himself. It's the largest mass murder in the United States up to that time. Hennard shouted "This is what Bell County did to me! This is payback day!" during the event.[17]
- 1995 As a result of the Luby’s massacre, Governor George W. Bush signs new law requiring a permit for concealed weapons.
- 2009, November 5 - Fort Hood shooting – Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan kills 13 people, wounds 30.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,088 square miles (2,818 km²), of which, 1,060 square miles (2,745 km²) of it is land and 28 square miles (73 km²) of it (2.59%) is water.
Major highways
Adjacent counties
- McLennan County (north)
- Falls County (northeast)
- Milam County (southeast)
- Williamson County (south)
- Burnet County (southwest)
- Lampasas County (west)
- Coryell County (northwest)
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Line Editor
Wed, 01 Sep 2010 06:12:26 GM
From the Statesman's Laylan Copelin: A state district judge Tuesday ruled that the Republican Governors Association violated state campaign finance laws and ordered it to pay Chris . Bell. , the 2006 Democratic candidate for governor, ... The office of Travis . County. District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg, which oversees public corruption investigations in Austin, asked the . Texas. House of Representatives to preserve records that were headed for the shredders Wednesday as a new ...
