Pearland, Texas

Pearland is a city located along the Gulf Coast region in the U.S. state of Texas within the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown metropolitan area and is partially in Brazoria County, partially in Fort Bend County, and partially in Harris County. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, the city population was 37,640 (though a July 1, 2004 estimate placed the population at 52,402).

The proper pronunciation for the city is for the first syllable to be pronounced "pear" (like the fruit, as the city was named for nearbly pear trees, see below), not "peer" or "pearl".

Geography

Pearland is located at (29.554349, -95.295959).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 101.9 km² (39.4 mi²). 101.9 km² (39.3 mi²) of it is land and 0.1 km² (0.04 mi²) of it (0.08%) is water.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 37,640 people, 13,192 households, and 10,659 families residing in the city. The population density was 369.5/km² (957.0/mi²). There were 13,922 housing units at an average density of 136.7/km² (354.0/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 82.62% White, 5.33% African American, 0.42% Native American, 3.65% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 6.12% from other races, and 1.82% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 16.22% of the population.

There were 13,192 households out of which 43.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 67.6% were married couples living together, 9.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 19.2% were non-families. 15.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.84 and the average family size was 3.17.

In the city the population was spread out with 28.8% under the age of 18, 7.3% from 18 to 24, 34.2% from 25 to 44, 21.2% from 45 to 64, and 8.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 96.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.8 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $64,156, and the median income for a family was $70,748. Males had a median income of $49,359 versus $34,570 for females. The per capita income for the city was $26,306. About 3.4% of families and 4.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.1% of those under age 18 and 3.5% of those age 65 or over.

History

The area that is now Pearland starting up around a siding switch on the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway in 1882. When a post office was established in 1893, the community was originally named Mark Belt. The name was changed to Pearland in November of that year because of the abundance of pear trees in the community. Pearland was promoted by some developers as an "agricultural Eden." The Galveston hurricane of 1900 destroyed most of the fruit trees and slowed growth for a considerable period of time. In 1914, with agriculture rebounding, Pearland had a population of 400, but a devastating freeze in 1918 was another setback to the local farming enterprises. Oil was discovered nearby in 1934, though this did not spur a large amount of growth, as the population fluctated from 150 and 350. From the 1960's the town has grown steadily to today's population. Today even though officially a suburb, the town is culturally rural.

Economy

Pearland does not have any major industry. The largest employers are a reflection of Pearland's suburban economy, with some businesses related to the oil industry. The largest employer is the Pearland Independent School District, employing 1800 people. The second largest employer is Wal-Mart, which operates several stores in town and employs 800 people. The city of Pearland is the third largest employer in town at 429 employees. Rounding out the top 10 are Randall's (Grocery), 250; Kemlon (Oil field services), 185; TurboCare (Turbo machinery manufacturing and repair), 175; Target Stores (Retail) 150, Tele-Flow (Heating/ventilation/air conditioning) 140, Lowe's (Building materials), 132.^*

Education

Most of Pearland is a part of the Pearland Independent School District. Other portions of Pearland are part of Alvin Independent School District (including Shadow Creek Ranch)), Houston Independent School District, Fort Bend Independent School District, Clear Creek Independent School District, and Pasadena Independent School District.

Since Pearland is located in several school districts, the school assignments are explained below.

All schools in Pearland ISD serve the Pearland ISD portion of Pearland
The Alvin ISD portion is served by several elementary schools as well as Manvel Junior High School (in Manvel) and Manvel High School (in Manvel).
The Clear Creek ISD portion is zoned to Weber Elementary School (unincorporated Harris County), Brookside Intermediate School (Friendswood), and Clear Brook High School (Friendswood).
The Fort Bend ISD portion of Pearland is zoned to two different elementary schools and two different middle schools
- Some areas are zoned to Goodman Elementary School and McAuliffe Middle School (in Houston)
- Some areas are zoned to Goodman Elementary School and Baines Middle School (in unincorporated Fort Bend County)
- Some areas are zoned to Burton Elementary School (in unincorporated Fort Bend County) and Baines Middle School
- All areas of Fort Bend ISD Pearland are zoned to Hightower High School in Missouri City
The Houston ISD portion of Pearland is zoned to two different elementary schools
- Areas west of Furman are zoned to Almeda Elementary School in Houston
- Areas east of Furman are zoned to Law Elementary School in Houston
- All areas in this portion are zoned to Woodson K-8 Center (for grades 6 through 8), and Worthing High School (both schools are in Houston)
The Pasadena ISD portion of Pearland is zoned to several different schools
- Some areas are zoned to Moore Elementary School and Beverly Hills Intermediate School (both schools are in Houston)
- Some areas are zoned to Frazier Elementary School and Thompson Intermediate School (both schools are in Houston)
- All areas of the Pasadena ISD portion of Pearland are zoned to Dobie High School in Houston

The Pearland ISD and Alvin ISD portions are served by Alvin Community College (ACC), the Houston ISD portion is served by Houston Community College System, and the Pasadena ISD and Clear Creek ISD portions are served by San Jacinto College.

ACC operates the Pearland College Center in Pearland.

The Pearland Library is a part of the Brazoria County Library System.

Communities

Eighty-three percent of Pearland is residential, which is the one big contributing factor to the high population. The city is home to many master-planned communities—Silverlake and Shadow Creek Ranch are among the most popular master-planned communities in Brazoria County.

C.V. 'Vic' Coppinger Family YMCA Branch is located in Pearland.

Trivia

Around 2:00 a.m. on December 14, 2000, members of the Texas 7 robbed a local computer store and an adjacent Radio Shack in Pearland, stealing tools that would help them pull off their infamous Christmas Eve robbery in Irving, Texas.

External links

Brazoria County, Texas | Harris County, Texas | Fort Bend County, Texas | Cities in Texas | Handbook of Texas citations

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