vidor

Vidor, Texas

Vidor is a city in western Orange County, Texas, United States. A city of Southeast Texas, it lies at the intersection of Interstate 10 and Farm Market Road 105, six miles east of Beaumont. The town is mainly a bedroom community for the nearby refining complexes in Beaumont and Port Arthur and is part of the Beaumont-Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 11,440 at the 2000 census.

History

The area was heavily logged after the construction of the Texarkana and Fort Smith Railway that was later part of a line that ran from Kansas City to Port Arthur, Texas. The city was named after lumberman Charles Shelton Vidor, owner of the Miller-Vidor Lumber Company and grandfather of director King Vidor. By 1909 the Vidor community had a post office and four years later a company tram road was built. Almost all Vidor residents worked for the company. In 1924 the Miller-Vidor Lumber Company moved to Lakeview, just north of Vidor, in search of virgin timber. A small settlement remained and the Miller-Vidor subdivision was laid out in 1929.

Geography

Vidor is located at (30.131492, -93.996292).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 10.6 square miles (27.4 km²), of which, 10.6 square miles (27.4 km²) of it is land and 0.09% is water.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 11,440 people, 4,222 households, and 3,158 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,083.6 people per square mile (418.3/km²). There were 4,652 housing units at an average density of 440.6/sq mi (170.1/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 97.33% White, 0.07% African American, 0.52% Native American, 0.19% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.66% from other races, and 1.21% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.49% of the population.

There were 4,222 households out of which 34.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.3% were married couples living together, 13.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.2% were non-families. 22.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.66 and the average family size was 3.09.

In the city the population was spread out with 26.7% under the age of 18, 9.9% from 18 to 24, 27.4% from 25 to 44, 21.9% from 45 to 64, and 14.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 91.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.1 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $31,982, and the median income for a family was $37,572. Males had a median income of $35,781 versus $21,054 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,381. About 10.7% of families and 14.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.5% of those under age 18 and 8.9% of those age 65 or over.

Education

The City of Vidor is served by the Vidor Independent School District, which is the largest school district in the county.

Famous Residents

David Harris, Cop-killer featured in documentary "The Thin Blue Line", executed June 30, 2004 6:48 p.m. by Lethal Injection in Texas for another murder
David Ozio, professional bowler
David Adam Moore, opera singer
George Jones, Country musician
Tracy Byrd, Country musician (1985 Vidor High graduate)
Clay Walker, Country musician (1987 Vidor High graduate)

Controversy

Despite African-Americans comprising one-fourth of the population of the Beaumont-Port Arthur metropolitan area, as of the 2000 Census, Vidor had only eight African-American residents. Vidor was considered a sundown town in the 1950s, and even through the 1970's, though improvements have been made since those decades. Vidor was the subject of many national news stories throughout the 1990s during the attempts of the Department of Housing and Urban Development to desegregate the local housing project. The federal government had found the state of Texas to have 32 counties with segregated housing projects and had issued an order to be begin desegregating them. Vidor was chosen to be one of the first to be desegregated, despite the very low black population in the city.