Gainesville is a city in and the county seat of Cooke County, Texas, United States and is part of the Dallas-Fort Worth, TX-OK combined statistical area. Its population was 17,394 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Texoma region and is an important Agri-business center.
History
Founded in 1850, the city of Gainesville was established on a tract of land donated by Mary E. Clark. City residents called their new community "Liberty", which proved short-lived, as Liberty, Texas, already existed. One of the original settlers of Cooke County, Colonel William Fitzhugh, suggested that the town be named after General Edmund Pendleton Gaines. Gaines, a United States general under whom Fitzhugh had served, had been sympathetic to the Texas Revolution.
The first hint of prosperity arrived with the Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach in September 1858, bringing freight, passengers, and mail. In 1860, Cooke County voted against secession. In 1862, during the Civil War, the Great Hanging at Gainesville, a controversial trial and lynching of 40 suspected Union loyalists, brought the new town to the attention of the state and came close to ripping the county apart. In the decade after the Civil War, Gainesville had its first period of extended growth, catalyzed by the expansion of the cattle industry in Texas. Gainesville, only from the Oklahoma border, became a supply point for cowboys driving herds north to Kansas. The merchants of Gainesville reaped considerable benefits from the passing cattle drives.
Within 20 years, its population increased from a few hundred to more than 2,000. Gainesville was incorporated on February 17, 1873, and by 1890 was established as a commercial and shipping point for area ranchers and farmers. In the late 1870s, two factors drastically altered the historic landscape of North-central Texas. The first of these was barbed wire. In 1875, Henry B. Sanborn, a regional sales agent for Joseph Glidden's Bar Fence Company of DeKalb, Illinois, traveled to Texas. That autumn, he chose Gainesville as one of his initial distribution points for the newly invented barbed wire, which his employer had patented the previous year. On his first visit to Gainesville, he sold 10 reels of the wire to the Cleaves and Fletcher hardware store—the first spools of barbed wire ever sold in Texas.
World War II had an enormous impact on Cooke County. Camp Howze, an army infantry training camp, was established on some of the best farmland in the county. The construction of the camp helped bring Cooke County out of the Great Depression by providing jobs. The county population doubled and the area boomed.
Since then, tourism has brought renewed prosperity to the area. The return of Amtrak on June 14, 1999, brought Gainesville back full circle to one of the original sources of its growth and success. In the early 1990s, Gainesville had 600 businesses and a population of 14,587. By 2020, the population had grown to 17,394.
Courthouse
Gainesville is home to a courthouse with an octagonal rotunda topped by stained glass, erected in 1910. "The 1912 Cooke County Courthouse was designed by the Dallas firm of Lang & Witchell. The courthouse was designed in the Beaux Arts style with some Prairie Style features and influences from famed Chicago architect Louis Sullivan. The courthouse in the center of Gainesville features black and white marbled interiors and a tall central atrium capped by a stained glass skylight under the tower." The courthouse is undergoing a major renovation project, resulting in the move of many county offices to surrounding buildings.
In 1911 a monolith topped with a statue of a Confederate soldier was placed on the lawn outside the courthouse. The inscription of the plaque beside it reads "no nation rose so white and fair none fell so pure of crime", in a statement typical of Confederate monuments that minimized the human impact of slavery and romanticized the Lost Cause of the Confederacy. In 2020, County Commissioners voted to retain the courthouse's Confederate monument.
Camp Howze, World War II Gainesville was once home to Camp Howze, one of the largest infantry replacement training centers during World War II. Only a few remnants of the camp still exist, but they are now located on private property.
Railroad
Railroads across Texas changed the nature and reach of commerce when they were built through and into areas. When the first railroad arrived in Gainesville, it improved the city's economics. For the first time, reliable, timely transportation meant goods and people could go vast distances. Gainesville was connected to the outside world in a whole new way with the coming of the railroads. For example, when the GC&SF arrived in 1887, goods could travel directly to or from Gainesville, directly to Chicago and Galveston, on the same railroad. Both were major transportation hubs during that age, and still are today.
Original companies and dates of arrival in Gainesville: The Denison and Pacific Railway (1879) (now a part of UP via the MKT) – route: Denison, TX to Gainesville via Whitesboro, TX Gainesville, Henrietta and Western Railway (1886) (now a part of UP via the MKT) – route: Gainesville to Wichita Falls, TX Gulf Colorado & Santa Fe Railway (1887) (now a part of BNSF) – route: Fort Worth to Oklahoma City
These turned into major railroads: Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad (MKT) is now the Union Pacific, but the lines owned in Gainesville were abandoned long before the UP bought the MKT in 1988. The MKT through town was abandoned around 1969 after having providing service for 90 years. Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (ATSF) is now the BNSF Railway.
The Great Hanging In October 1862, during the Civil War, Confederate authorities in Cooke County arrested about 150–200 men suspected of Unionist sympathies. A “Citizens’ Court” of local men - lacking legal authority - convicted many of them of treason. Under mob pressure, executions escalated: 41 were hanged in Gainesville and at least two others killed elsewhere, making it the largest mass hanging in U.S. history.
Afterward, Confederate leaders shut down the court, and thousands fled North Texas. A 1964 state marker defended the executions, but later memorials - including a 2014 granite monument near the site - commemorate the victims. The event remains a controversial chapter in Gainesville’s history.
Demographics
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Gainesville had a population of 17,394, with 4,105 families residing in the city. The median age was 33.8 years, with 27.2% of residents under the age of 18 and 15.7% of residents 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 92.8 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 89.4 males age 18 and over.
As of the 2020 census, 94.9% of residents lived in urban areas, while 5.1% lived in rural areas.
As of the 2020 census, there were 6,379 households in Gainesville, of which 34.6% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 40.7% were married-couple households, 19.1% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 32.4% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 30.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
As of the 2020 census, there were 7,016 housing units, of which 9.1% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.8% and the rental vacancy rate was 8.1%.
+ Racial composition as of the 2020 census Race Number Percent White 10,688 61.4% Black or African American 1,053 6.1% American Indian and Alaska Native 257 1.5% Asian 224 1.3% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 12 0.1% Some other race 2,295 13.2% Two or more races 2,865 16.5% Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 5,936 34.1%
2000 census As of the census of 2000, 15,538 people, 5,969 households, and 4,005 families resided in the city. The population density was 914.1 people/sq mi (352.9/km). The 6,423 housing units averaged 377.9/sq mi (145.9/km). The racial makeup of the city was 80.77% White, 6.00% African American, 1.33% Native American, 0.55% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 9.09% from other races, and 2.23% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 17.47% of the population.
Of the 5,969 households, 33.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.2% were married couples living together, 13.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.9% were not families; 29.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 3.13.
In the city, the population was distributed as 27.2% under 18, 10.9% from 18 to 24, 25.8% from 25 to 44, 19.3% from 45 to 64, and 16.8% who were 65 or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 88.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.3 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $30,571, and for a family was $37,137. Males had a median income of $30,480 versus $21,459 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,154. About 17.0% of families and 20.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 29.5% of those under age 18 and 12.7% of those age 65 or over. Education
Gainesville ISD
The city is served by the Gainesville Independent School District, which consists of:
Gainesville Head Start (toddlers/preschool) Thomas A. Edison Elementary (pre-kindergarten (age 4), kindergarten and grade 1) W E. Chalmers Elementary (grades 2–4) Gainesville Intermediate (grades 5–6)** Gainesville Junior High School (grades 7–8) Gainesville High School (grades 9-12)
The high school boasts various athletic and academic championships. The GHS varsity basketball team won the 3A-Division I State Championship in 2002, and the varsity football team won the 3A-Division I State Championship in 2003. A notable member of the 2003 championship football team was Darcel McBath, who was recruited by and played for the Texas Tech University Red Raiders and was drafted in the third round of the 2010 NFL draft by the Denver Broncos. Another player who went on to play for the NFL is Kevin Mathis, who played first for the Dallas Cowboys, then for the Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints. The high school has also been historically competitive in University Interscholastic League academic competition, boasting numerous district, regional, and state championships in many categories.
The campus was officially renamed in 2021 from Robert E. Lee Intermediate School with the name change taking effect as of the 2021–2022 school year.
Higher education
North Central Texas College (NCTC), a five-campus community college system, is headquartered in Gainesville, with the main campus being located on the west side of town.
The college, which the Texas Legislature designates as serving Cooke County,Texas Education Code Sec. 130.190. NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS COLLEGE DISTRICT SERVICE AREA. has locations in Gainesville, Bowie, Corinth, Denton, Graham, and Flower Mound. Satellite locations exist at Northwest High School, Little Elm High School, and the Graham Education and Workforce Center. NCTC began as Gainesville Junior College in 1924, and has the distinction of being the oldest continuously operated community college in Texas. NCTC has come to be known for its ever-growing health-sciences program. It offers help such as writing and math labs, which are tutoring centers for students to get more out of their education. Areas of study include certified nursing assistant, associate degree nursing (LVN), registered nurse, emergency medical technician, and radiology technician programs.