Stonewall County was formed in 1876 from the Young Territory. It was initially attached toYoung County,Throckmorton County, and thenJones County, before finally becoming fully organized in 1889.[4]
According to theU.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 920 square miles (2,400 km2), of which 3.9 square miles (10 km2) (0.4%) are covered by water.[5]
Stonewall County, Texas – Racial and ethnic composition Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
As of the2020 census, the county had a population of 1,245. The median age was 53.0 years. 19.4% of residents were under the age of 18 and 30.4% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 91.5 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 93.6 males age 18 and over.[13]
There were 550 households in the county, of which 27.5% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 53.3% were married-couple households, 17.6% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 26.4% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 30.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 19.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.[13]
There were 840 housing units, of which 34.5% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 81.6% were owner-occupied and 18.4% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0.7% and the rental vacancy rate was 5.6%.[13]
As of the 2010census,[16] 1,490 people, 642 households, and 426 families resided in the county. Thepopulation density was 2.0 people per square mile (0.77 people/km2). The 928 housing units averaged 1 unit per square mile (0.39 units/km2). Theracial makeup of the county was 87.7% White, 2.6% Black or African American, 0.5% Native American, 0.9% Asian, 6.3% from other races, and 1.9% from two or more races. About 14.0% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race.
Of the 642 households, 24% had children under 18 living with them, 53% were married couples living together, 10.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.6% were not families; 15.7% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.28 and the average family size was 2.83.
In the county, the population was distributed as 22.8% under 18, 6.2% from 18 to 24, 22.6% from 25 to 44, 24.5% from 45 to 64, and 24.0% who were 65 or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.0 males. For every 100 females 18 and over, there were 91.1 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $27,935, and for a family was $35,571. Males had a median income of $27,083 versus $15,000 for females. Theper capita income for the county was $16,094. About 14.80% of families and 19.30% of the population were below thepoverty line, including 31.50% of those under 18 and 14.50% of those 65 or over.
Whereas the counties to its north in the Panhandle proper became overwhelmingly Republican at the presidential level withDwight D. Eisenhower in the 1950s, Stonewall County continued to favor the Democratic Party for another four decades, even being narrowly won byWalter Mondale in 1984 when he came within 3,819 votes of losing all fifty states. During the twentieth century the only Republican to carry Stonewall County wasRichard Nixon in 1972 – it was one of the few Baptist Bible Belt counties that stayed loyal to the anti-Prohibition CatholicAl Smith in 1928 when Texas voted Republican for the first time in its history.
Like the rest of theBible Belt, due to opposition to the Democratic Party's liberal positions on social issues Stonewall County has trended powerfully Republican[18] and in the last five elections the Republican nominee has won more than 62 percent of the vote – more than Nixon won in his 3,000-plus-county landslide in 1972.
