Bell County, Texas

Bell County is a in the  of Texas. As of the, its population was 310,235. Its county seat is Belton. The county was founded in 1850 and is named for, the third.

Bell County is part of the Killeen–Temple, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area.

In 2010, the center of population of Texas was located in Bell County, near the town of Holland.

History

 * 1834–1835 Little River becomes part of Robertson's Colony, settlers from Nashville, led by Sterling C. Robertson: families of Captain Goldsby Childers, Robert Davison, John Fulcher, Moses Griffin, John Needham, Michael Reed and his son, William Taylor, and Judge Orville T. Tyler.
 * 1836 The settlements are deserted during the Runaway Scrape, reoccupied, deserted again after the Elmwood Creek Blood Scrape, re-occupied again. Texas Ranger George Erath establishes a fort on Little River.
 * 1843–44 Settlers return.
 * 1845 University of Mary Hardin–Baylor founded by the Republic of Texas as “Baylor Female College”.
 * 1850 Bell County is formed and named for Texas Governor Peter Hansborough Bell. Population 600 whites – 60 black slaves. was designated as the county seat in 1851.


 * 1851 County seat is Belton.
 * 1859 Last serious Indian raid of the area.
 * 1860 Re-survey of the line between Bell and Milam County. Bell County assumes its present boundaries.
 * 1865–1877 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, 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.
 * 1905 The Belton and Temple Interurban electric railway is constructed.
 * 1920’s revived in Bell County.
 * 1925 Miriam A. Ferguson is inaugurated as governor.
 * 1926 Temple Junior College (later Temple College) opens.
 * 1933 Miriam A. Ferguson is inaugurated for her second, but non-consecutive, term as governor.
 * 1942 opens as a military training base.
 * 1956 Killeen school board votes to integrate local high school.
 * 1965 Central Texas College founded in Killeen.
 * 1976 Temple Mall opens.
 * 1980 Killeen becomes the largest city in Bell County.
 * 1981 Killeen Mall opens.
 * 1987 Bell County Expo Center opens
 * 1991, October 16 - Luby's shooting
 * 1995 Four years after the Luby’s shooting, Governor signs new law easing restrictions on carrying handguns by allowing Texans to carry concealed weapons with a required permit for concealed weapons. Texas thus tosses out a ban on carrying weapons that had been adopted by another Republican governor, E.J. Davis, 125 years earlier during a meeting of the post-Civil War Legislature. On November 5, in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting, Army Major Nidal Hasan killed 13 people, and wounded  30. He was paralyzed in return fire. He had been described as mentally unstable. On April 2 in the 2014 Fort Hood shooting, Army Specialist Ivan Lopez killed three people and wounded 16.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 1,088 sqmi, of which 1,051 sqmi is land and 37 sqmi (3.4%) is water.

Adjacent counties

 * McLennan County (north)
 * Falls County (northeast)
 * Milam County (southeast)
 * Williamson County (south)
 * Burnet County (southwest)
 * Lampasas County (west)
 * Coryell County (northwest)

Demographics
As of the of 2010, there were 310,235 people, 114,035 households, and 80,449 families residing in the county. The was 295.2 PD/sqmi. There were 125,470 housing units at an average density of 88 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the county was 61.4% White, 21.5% Black or African American, 0.8% Native American, 2.8% Asian, 0.8% Pacific Islander, and 5.0% reporting two or more races. 21.6% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 14.9% were of Mexican, 3.6% were of Puerto Rican, 0.2% Cuban, and 0.2% were of Dominican Republic descent.

There were 85,507 households out of which 40.10% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.60% were living together, 12.30% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.50% were non-families. 22.30% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.68 and the average family size was 3.14. As of the, there were about 3.6 per 1,000 households in the county.

In the county, the population was spread out with 28.90% under the age of 18, 13.40% from 18 to 24, 31.90% from 25 to 44, 17.00% from 45 to 64, and 8.80% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 29 years. For every 100 females there were 100.80 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.30 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $36,872, and the median income for a family was $41,455. Males had a median income of $28,031 versus $22,364 for females. The for the county was $17,219. About 9.70% of families and 12.10% of the population were below the, including 16.30% of those under age 18 and 9.80% of those age 65 or over.

Major highways
The following are major highways that run through Bell County.

Mass transit
The Hill Country Transit District operates a regularly scheduled fixed route bus service within the urban areas of Killeen and Temple, as well as a paratransit service throughout the county. Amtrak also has scheduled service to Temple.

Cities

 * Bartlett (partly in Williamson County)
 * Belton (county seat)
 * Copperas Cove (mostly in Coryell County and a small part in Lampasas County)
 * Harker Heights
 * Killeen
 * Little River-Academy
 * Morgan's Point Resort
 * Nolanville
 * Temple
 * Troy

Towns

 * Holland
 * Rogers

Village

 * Salado

Census-designated Place

 * Fort Hood (partly in Coryell County)

Unincorporated communities

 * Ding Dong
 * Heidenheimer
 * Moffat
 * Pendleton
 * Prairie Dell
 * Seaton
 * Zabcikville