Fisher County, Texas

Fisher County
Fisher County
County
	The Fisher County Courthouse
	Location within the U.S. state of Texas
	Texas's location within the U.S.
	Coordinates: 32°44′N 100°24′W / 32.74°N 100.4°W
Country	United States
State	Texas
Founded	1886
Named for	Samuel Rhoads Fisher
Seat	Roby
Largest city	Rotan
Area
• Total	902 sq mi (2,340 km2)
• Land	899 sq mi (2,330 km2)
• Water	2.8 sq mi (7 km2) 0.3%
Population (2020)
• Total	3,672
• Density	4.1/sq mi (1.6/km2)
Time zone	UTC−6 (Central)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
Congressional district	19th
Website	www.co.fisher.tx.us

Fisher County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 3,672.^[1] The county seat is Roby.^[2] The county was created in 1876 and later organized in 1886.^[3] It is named for Samuel Rhoads Fisher,^[4] a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence and a Secretary of the Navy of the Republic of Texas. Fisher County was one of 30^[5] prohibition, or entirely dry, counties in Texas, but is now a fully wet county.

History

10000 BC - Paleo-Indians were the first inhabitants. Later Native American inhabitants include the Pawnee, Wichita and Waco, Lipan Apache, Kiowa, and Comanche.^[6]
1876 - The Texas legislature formed Fisher County from Bexar districts. The new county was named after Samuel Rhoads Fisher.^[6]
1880 - The census reported 136 inhabitants.^[6]
1881 - The Texas and Pacific Railway routed an east–west branch through Eskota.^[7]
1885 - The town of Fisher was registered. Swedish immigrants founded the community of Swedonia.^[8]
1886 - The town of North Roby was registered. Roby eventually won the county seat election over Fisher, but one of the voters, a Mr. Bill Purp, was later discovered to have been actually a dog whose owner lived near Roby.^[9]
1920 - Fisher County was among Texas leaders in wheat production.^[6]
1926 - Cotton became king, as 48,000 bales were ginned in the county.^[6]
1928 - Oil was discovered in the county.^[6]
1970 - The county's average annual farm income was evenly divided between livestock and crops.^[6]

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 902 square miles (2,340 km²), of which 899 square miles (2,330 km²) are land and 2.8 square miles (7.3 km²) (0.3%) is covered by water.^[10]

Major highways

Adjacent counties

Stonewall County (north)
Jones County (east)
Taylor County (southeast)
Nolan County (south)
Mitchell County (southwest)
Scurry County (west)
Kent County (northwest)

Demographics

Historical population
Census	Pop.	%±
1880	136	—
1890	2,996	2,102.9%
1900	2,708	−9.6%
1910	12,596	365.1%
1920	11,009	−12.6%
1930	13,563	23.2%
1940	12,932	−4.7%
1950	11,023	−14.8%
1960	7,865	−28.6%
1970	6,344	−19.3%
1980	5,891	−7.1%
1990	4,842	−17.8%
2000	4,344	−10.3%
2010	3,974	−8.5%
2020	3,672	−7.6%
U.S. Decennial Census^[11] 1850–2010^[12] 2010^[13] 2020^[14]

**Fisher County, Texas - Demographic Profile**
(*NH = Non-Hispanic*)
Race / Ethnicity	Pop 2010^[13]	Pop 2020^[14]	% 2010	% 2020
White alone (NH)	2,797	2,496	70.38%	67.97%
Black or African American alone (NH)	124	92	3.12%	2.51%
Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)	12	15	0.30%	0.41%
Asian alone (NH)	7	13	0.18%	0.35%
Pacific Islander alone (NH)	0	2	0.00%	0.05%
Some Other Race alone (NH)	7	11	0.18%	0.30%
Mixed Race/Multi-Racial (NH)	28	70	0.70%	1.91%
Hispanic or Latino (any race)	999	973	25.14%	26.50%
Total	3,974	3,672	100.00%	100.00%

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 can be of any race.

As of the census^[15] of 2000, 4,344 people, 1,785 households, and 1,244 families resided in the county. The population density was five people per square mile (1.9 people/km²). The 2,277 housing units averaged two units per square mile (0.77 units/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 83.75% White, 2.76% Black or African American, 0.37% Native American, 0.14% Asian, 11.58% from other races, and 1.40% from two or more races. About 21.36% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

Of the 1,785 households, 27.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.90% were married couples living together, 8.10% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.30% were not families. About 28.30% of all households were made up of individuals, and 17.80% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.39 and the average family size was 2.93.

In the county, the population was distributed as 23.90% under the age of 18, 6.30% from 18 to 24, 23.00% from 25 to 44, 24.10% from 45 to 64, and 22.70% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.80 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $27,659, and for a family was $34,907. Males had a median income of $25,071 versus $20,536 for females. The per capita income for the county was $15,120. About 13.50% of families and 17.50% of the population were below the poverty line, including 27.40% of those under age 18 and 10.50% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

Cities

Hamlin (mostly in Jones County)
Roby (county seat)
Rotan

Unincorporated communities

Hobbs
Longworth^[16] (birthplace of Poker Hall of Fame inductee Doyle Brunson)^[17]
McCauley
Sylvester

Ghost Towns

Politics

Fisher County was one of the last rural yellow dog counties in Texas to switch from consistently voting for Democratic candidates to favoring Republican candidates. From 1921 to 1925, the Democrat Richard M. Chitwood of Sweetwater represented Fisher County in the state House. He left his post to become the first business manager of Texas Tech University, but died the next year.^[18]

United States presidential election results for Fisher County, Texas^[19]
Year	Republican		Democratic		Third party
Year	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2020	1,448	79.30%	352	19.28%	26	1.42%
2016	1,265	73.16%	403	23.31%	61	3.53%
2012	1,094	67.16%	512	31.43%	23	1.41%
2008	1,083	60.71%	687	38.51%	14	0.78%
2004	1,161	60.37%	758	39.42%	4	0.21%
2000	968	51.71%	884	47.22%	20	1.07%
1996	537	29.04%	1,142	61.76%	170	9.19%
1992	539	24.22%	1,242	55.82%	444	19.96%
1988	721	32.19%	1,516	67.68%	3	0.13%
1984	965	40.94%	1,384	58.72%	8	0.34%
1980	838	34.39%	1,564	64.18%	35	1.44%
1976	573	22.24%	1,993	77.37%	10	0.39%
1972	1,207	56.22%	933	43.46%	7	0.33%
1968	555	23.27%	1,560	65.41%	270	11.32%
1964	454	17.69%	2,108	82.12%	5	0.19%
1960	679	25.57%	1,966	74.05%	10	0.38%
1956	673	28.72%	1,664	71.02%	6	0.26%
1952	952	40.36%	1,405	59.56%	2	0.08%
1948	149	6.52%	2,063	90.28%	73	3.19%
1944	154	6.60%	2,041	87.52%	137	5.87%
1940	199	8.07%	2,260	91.61%	8	0.32%
1936	155	6.95%	2,068	92.78%	6	0.27%
1932	105	6.97%	1,395	92.63%	6	0.40%
1928	1,259	60.07%	837	39.93%	0	0.00%
1924	302	15.00%	1,653	82.12%	58	2.88%
1920	152	15.29%	743	74.75%	99	9.96%
1916	46	3.74%	950	77.17%	235	19.09%
1912	21	3.48%	572	94.70%	11	1.82%