The story
History
From the early 18th century to the mid 19th century, the Wichita Falls area was inhabited by the Wichita and the Comanche people. The Spanish called the lands controlled by the Comanche as Comancheria. The Wichita were forced onto a reservation in Oklahoma after 1859. The last battle with the Comanche in this area occurred in 1872 and the Comanche were finally defeated in 1874.
Anglo American presence in the area began in the 1860s. The future city was platted and named Wichita Falls on September 27, 1876, as the Wichita River runs through the area and a waterfall was in the river's course in 1876. The first permanent resident arrived in 1879. In 1886, a flood destroyed the original waterfall. The city built a 54 ft (16 m) high artificial waterfall in 1987 beside the river in Lucy Park.
On the day the city was named in 1876, a sale of town lots was held at what is now the corner of Seventh and Ohio Streets – the birthplace of the city. The Fort Worth & Denver City Railway arrived in September 1882, the same year the city became the county seat of Wichita County. The city grew westwards from the original FW&DC train depot which was located at the northwest corner of Seventh Street and the FW&DC. This area is now referred to as the Depot Square Historic District, which has been declared a Texas Historic Landmark.
The early history of Wichita Falls well into the 20th century also rests on the work of two entrepreneurs, Joseph A. Kemp and his brother-in-law, Frank Kell. Kemp and Kell were pioneers in food processing and retailing, flour milling, railroads, cattle, banking, and oil.
The city is home to the Newby-McMahon Building (otherwise known as the "world's littlest skyscraper"), constructed downtown in 1919 and featured in Robert Ripley's Ripley's Believe It or Not!.
Downtown Wichita Falls was the city's main shopping area for many years. Those shops lost ground to the creation of new shopping centers throughout the city beginning with Parker Square in 1953 and other similar developments during the 1960s and 1970s, culminating with the opening of Sikes Senter Mall in 1974. The city has been seeking funding to rebuild and restore the downtown area since 2010.
Wichita Falls was once home to offices of several oil companies and related industries, along with oil refineries operated by the Continental Oil Company (now ConocoPhillips) until 1952 and Panhandle Oil Company (founded in Wichita Falls, sold to American Petrofina in 1965). Both firms continued to use a portion of their former refineries as gasoline/oil terminal facilities for many years.
1964 tornado
A powerful F5-rated tornado hit the northern and northwestern portions of Wichita Falls, along with Sheppard Air Force Base during the afternoon of April 3, 1964 (later referred to as "Black Friday"). As the first violent tornado on record to hit the Wichita Falls area, it left seven dead and more than 100 injured. Additionally, the tornado caused roughly $15 million ($153.2M in 2025 dollars) in property damage with about 225 homes destroyed and another 250 damaged. It was rated F5, the highest rating on the Fujita scale, but it is overshadowed by the 1979 tornado.
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1979 tornado
An F4 tornado struck the heavily populated southern sections of Wichita Falls in the late afternoon on Tuesday, April 10, 1979 (known as "Terrible Tuesday"). It was part of an outbreak that produced 30 tornadoes around the region. Despite having nearly an hour's advance warning that severe weather was imminent, 42 people were killed (including 25 in vehicles) and 1,800 were injured because it arrived just as many people were driving home from work. It left 20,000 people homeless and caused $400 million in damage, a U.S. record not topped by an individual tornado until the F5 Moore–Oklahoma City tornado of May 3, 1999.
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Wichita Falls had a population of 102,316 and a median age of 35.0 years; 21.7% of residents were under the age of 18 and 15.3% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 106.8 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 107.6 males age 18 and over.
93.7% of residents lived in urban areas, while 6.3% lived in rural areas.
There were 38,266 households in Wichita Falls, of which 29.8% had children under the age of 18 living in them; 41.1% were married-couple households, 20.5% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 31.4% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 32.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 43,625 housing units, of which 12.3% were vacant; the homeowner vacancy rate was 2.4% and the rental vacancy rate was 13.1%.
2022 American Community Survey
As of the 2022 American Community Survey estimates, there were 102,659 people and 38,057 households. The population density was 1,421.2 inhabitants per square mile (548.7/km2). There were 42,641 housing units at an average density of 590.3 per square mile (227.9/km2).
The racial makeup of the city was 52.1% White, 30.8% Black or African American, 3.6% some other race, 2.8% Asian, 1.0% Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and 0.6% Native American or Alaskan Native, with 9.1% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 22.4% of the population.
Of the 38,057 households, 30.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 27.4% had seniors 65 years or older living with them, 40.1% were married couples living together, 6.9% were couples cohabitating, 24.0% had a male householder with no partner present, and 29.0% had a female householder with no partner present. The median household size was 2.39 and the median family size was 2.98.
The age distribution was 22.9% under 18, 13.9% from 18 to 24, 27.0% from 25 to 44, 21.3% from 45 to 64, and 14.9% who were 65 or older. The median age was 34.4 years. For every 100 females, there were 114.6 males.
The median income for a household was $56,091, with family households having a median income of $71,975 and non-family households $35,403. The per capita income was $31,730. Out of the 90,842 people with a determined poverty status, 15.2% were below the poverty line. Further, 21.4% of minors and 16.3% of seniors were below the poverty line.
In the survey, residents self-identified with various ethnic ancestries. People of German descent made up 9.6% of the population of the town, followed by Irish at 6.5%, English at 6.3%, American at 5.1%, Italian at 2.7%, Swedish at 1.9%, Scotch-Irish at 1.1%, Dutch at 1.1%, Sub-Saharan African at 1.0%, Scottish at 0.9%, French at 0.9%, and Norwegian at 0.8%.
Sports and recreation
Lucy Park
Lucy Park is a 170-acre (69 ha) park with a log cabin, duck pond, swimming pool, playground, frisbee golf course, and picnic areas. It has multiple paved walkways suitable for walking, running, biking, or rollerskating, including a river walk that goes to a man-made waterfall feature in lieu of the original falls for which the city was named (the original falls, located in the river, were destroyed in a 19th-century flood; the new waterfall attraction, located in the park and discharging into the river, were built in response to numerous tourist requests to visit the "Wichita Falls"). It is one of 37 parks throughout the city. The parks range in size from small neighborhood facilities to the 258 acres of Weeks Park featuring the Champions Course at Weeks Park, an 18-hole golf course. In addition, an off-leash dog park is within Lake Wichita Park and a skatepark adjacent to the city's softball complex. Also, unpaved trails for off-road biking and hiking are available.
Circle Trail
The Wichita Falls Circle Trail system consists of over 24 miles of concrete trail that goes around the city. Almost all of the trails are 10-foot wide reinforced concrete. They can be used for walking, jogging, bicycling, and rollerblading. Started in 1987 and completed in 2025, the trail takes riders through several of the city parks and across a wide range of environments. It includes an off-shoot, the Wee-Chi-Tah Off Road Trail. This 13-mile loop has been voted the best in Texas.
Hotter'N Hell Hundred
Wichita Falls is the home of the annual Hotter'N Hell Hundred, the largest single-day century bicycle ride in the United States and one of the largest races in the world. The race started as a way for the city to celebrate its centennial in 1982. The race takes place over a weekend in August, and multiple events are hosted for people to participate.
Sports
The Wichita Falls Texans were a minor league basketball team in the Continental Basketball Association from 1988 to 1994. The team played its games at D.L. Ligon Coliseum, located on the campus of Midwestern State University. The Texans won the CBA championship in 1991.
In 2014, the Wichita Falls Nighthawks, an indoor football team, joined the Indoor Football League but suspended operations after the 2017 season.
The Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame relocated to Wichita Falls from Amsterdam, New York, in November 2015 and closed in 2022.
From Wikipedia’s article on Wichita Falls, Texas, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4