Schertz, Texas

Schertz, Texas
—  City  —
City of Schertz, Texas
Coordinates: 29°34′0″N 98°15′52″W
Country	United States
State	Texas
Counties	Guadalupe, Bexar, Comal
Government
• Type	Council-Manager
• City Council	Mayor Hal Baldwin Jim Fowler David Scagliola George Antuna Cedric Edwards Sr. Michael Carpenter
• City Manager	Don Taylor
• Public Affairs Director	Brad Ernest Bailey
Area
• Total	24.7 sq mi (64.1 km2)
• Land	24.7 sq mi (64.1 km2)
• Water	0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2)
Elevation	712 ft (217 m)
Population (2010)
• Total	31,465
• Density	755.9/sq mi (291.9/km2)
Time zone	Central (CST) (UTC-6)
• Summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)
ZIP code	78154
Area code(s)	210
FIPS code	48-66128
GNIS feature ID	1346761
Website	schertz.com

Schertz is a city in Bexar, Comal, and Guadalupe counties in the U.S. state of Texas within the San Antonio–New Braunfels metropolitan area. The population was 31,465 at the 2010 census.

On July 16, 2007 CNNMoney.com rated Schertz one of the best places to live in the United States. In Texas, Schertz was ranked #1; Nationwide it came in at #40.

Schertz is the largest city of the Randolph Metrocom, which consists of towns and cities surrounding the Randolph Air Force Base. In addition to Schertz, other Randolph Metrocom communities include Live Oak, Kirby, Converse, Marion, Cibolo, Universal City, Windcrest, Garden Ridge, and Selma. These towns are located in Comal, Bexar, and Guadalupe Counties and combined have a total of 335,000 residents and growing rapidly.

Since the late 1990s, Schertz has witnessed unprecedented growth. In five years, from 2000–2005, the city's population jumped from 18,694 to 26,463. In 2006 alone, the population rose from 26,463 to 34,000. During that same period, the city platted 1,357 new lots and the growth shows no sign of slowdown.

Geography

Schertz is located at 29°34′0″N 98°15′52″W (29.566728, -98.264339), primarily within Guadalupe County.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 24.7 square miles (64.1 km²). None of the area is covered with water.

History

The first settlers came to Schertz around 1843. Some of the families on the immediate land surrounding Schertz were the Boettigers, Schertzs, Schneiders, Seilers, Maske, and Mergele. Members of the Schertz family still reside in the City. The first name of Schertz was "Cibolo Pit," then "Cut Off;" the reason for this name was when the Cibolo Creek flooded, the settlement was cut off.

The first settlers planted wheat, oats, and corn, which did not need special equipment to harvest and process. In later years, cotton was planted, and proved to be a productive cash crop. In 1870 the first gin was built by the Schertz family. It was powered by mules and then in later years by steam. This gin was located where the post office is at the present time.

The second cotton gin built by Weyel and Kallies was between First and Second Streets. In later years, there also was a corn sheller and lumber yard.

The first school built (1890) was across the Cibolo Creek where the Randolph Stables are now located. In 1917 a new two story brick school was built, and later torn down to make room for the O'Henry School. The land for the school was donated by Mr. Adolph Schertz.

In 1876, one of the largest boosts to Schertz came when the Galveston, Harrisburg, and San Antonio Railroad was built through the town. This gave the people a chance to travel to San Antonio by rail instead of wagon or buggy, besides goods being shipped in and out. The first post office was established in 1882. At that time Schertz was still known as Cut Off. In 1899 it officially became Schertz, Texas. Sebastian Schertz owned and operated a general store when the railroad was constructed.

A big and very active shooting club was located on the site that is now the City Park. There was an annual shooting tournament held that was called "Koenig Schiesen" or King Shoot. This was a two day affair with people coming from San Antonio by train. The last night, a big dance was held to close the event for that year. A piece of live coal, blown from a switch engine, that was carrying gravel cars from or to the rock crusher, was supposed to have blown on the shingle roof of the dance hall, setting it on fire and completely destroying it. It was later rebuilt but eventually the club disbanded.

The rockcrusher was at one time located in the Cibolo Creek across from the public utilities of the City of Schertz. This was destroyed in 1913 when the Cibolo Creek had its biggest flood recorded. It flooded many people out of their homes.

The first church in Schertz is the present day United Methodist Church on First Street. One of the oldest business buildings, the red brick building on Main Street, was built by Mr. Willie Schertz. It is now a plumbing and hardware store and Masonic meeting place. It was the first mercantile store. On the site of the present day Schertz Bank, a two story hotel, a five room hospital and drug store complex was built in 1909. The hotel was built by Mr. Henry Ebert. A Dr. Watson was the resident doctor. This doctor used two methods of transportation to see his patients, a horse drawn hack for good roads and horse back for emergencies in bad weather and long distances. In 1917 another red brick hospital on Main Street was built by Dr. C. M.Cotham and Miss Cora Karbach, a nurse. It served the surrounding communities for many years and is now an old apartment house.

The first bank was chartered in 1913 and one of the first bankers was a Mr. Glass. He also organized what was called the National Home Guard During World War I. They drilled at night in the second story of the building that at the present time is the Masonic Lodge meeting place.

The present day Blake's Restaurant was Beck's Food Store and before that was Gerlich and Schulz, and at one time housed the post office for a while. A bakery, barber shop, cafe, butcher shops, filling stations were among the old establishments. Also in 1913 the first telephone service was the Farmer's Rural Telephone Exchange composed of share holders.

Randolph Air Force Base (originally Randolph Field) was a big boom to Schertz in the late 1920's. Farm land was bought as the Air Force needed 2,000 acres (8 km²) for the air academy (the "West Point of the Air") which opened in 1930. There were 3 sites considered. The present site was chosen because after research, the site here showed the fog was less in the area and lifted earlier in the day, and meant more flying time. All of this boosted the economy not only for Schertz and surrounding communities but also the areas of New Braunfels, Seguin, and San Antonio.

The V.F.W. of Schertz was chartered in 1946.

The first fire protection was from the Randolph Field Fire Department. As time went on some Schertz business people and some of its citizens started to organize a fire department. The first business meeting of the Schertz Fire Department was February 8, 1956. Our first Fire Chief was Archie Woodward and the fire truck was stored in the old Schertz garage. Soon a fire station and city hall combination was built. The Schertz library is now in this building.A new Library has recently been built right next to the previous library. Schertz was incorporated as a City by the State if Texas in 1958.

The most famous person from Schertz is alt-country-rocker Steve Earle, who grew up in the town.

In 1988, the half-brother of Osama bin Laden and then patriarch of the bin Laden family, Salem bin Laden, perished in a crash of a light plane in Schertz, described as a "freak accident" by Schertz officials.

Demographics

As of 2010, there were 31,465 people, 6,604 households, and 5,283 families residing in the city. The population density was 755.9 people per square mile (291.9/km²). There were 7,009 housing units at an average density of 283.4 per square mile (109.4/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 82.0% White, 6.6% African American, 0.5% Native American, 1.8% Asian, 0.2% Pacific Islander, 5.5% from other races, and 3.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 19.5% of the population.

There were 6,604 households out of which 42.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 67.2% were married couples living together, 10.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.0% were non-families. 16.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.82 and the average family size was 3.17.

In the city the population was spread out with 29.3% under the age of 18, 6.7% from 18 to 24, 33.0% from 25 to 44, 22.2% from 45 to 64, and 8.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 93.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.3 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $55,156, and the median income for a family was $59,745. Males had a median income of $38,655 versus $28,203 for females. The per capita income for the city was $21,938. About 4.2% of families and 5.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.0% of those under age 18 and 8.4% of those age 65 or over.

A large number of Schertz's population is connected with the military due to the presence nearby of Randolph Air Force Base which can result in some degree of population turnover due to the transient nature of military service.

Government

Local Government

The city of Schertz is a member of the Alamo Area Council of Governments (aacog.com).

City Industrial Team: Economic Development Corporation (http://www.schertzedc.com)

Planning Commission: Yes

Zoning Regulations: Yes

Police and Fire Departments: Yes: Both Full Time/Paid

Education

Public Elementary & Middle Schools

Public education in Schertz is provided through the Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City Independent School District (SCUCISD) which is composed of the neighboring towns of Schertz, Cibolo, and Universal City. Schools include:

• Norma J Paschal Elementary
• Green Valley Elementary
• Ray D Corbett Junior High School
• Laura Ingalls Wilder Intermediate
• Schertz Elementary

Public High schools

Significant growth of the area necessitated the opening of a second high school in the district in 2005 called Byron P. Steele High School (in Cibolo) to supplant the already existing Samuel Clemens High School. Also, the district maintains the Allison Steele Enhanced Learning Center

Colleges and universities

Colleges/universities with over 2,000 students nearest to Schertz:

• University of the Incarnate Word (about 13 miles; Full-time enrollment: 2,734)
• University of Texas at San Antonio (about 30 miles; Full-time enrollment: 30,000)
• San Antonio College (about 16 miles; Full-time enrollment: 11,226)
• Trinity University (Texas) (about 16 miles; Full-time enrollment: 2,474)
• St. Philip's College (about 16 miles; Full-time enrollment: 4,778)
• Our Lady of the Lake University(about 19 miles; Full-time enrollment: 2,312)
• University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (about 20 miles; Full-time enrollment: 2,303)
• St. Mary's University, Texas (about 20 miles; San Antonio; FT enrollment: 3,588)

Community Data Profile

Nearest Interstate: IH-35 & IH-10

Nearest Farm to Market: FM78, FM3009, FM1604, FM1518

Chamber of Commerce: Schertz Chamber of Commerce

Utilities:

Electric Distributors: Guadalupe Valley Electric Coop, City Public Service, New Braunfels Utilities

Gas Distributors: Entex & City Public Service

Solid Waste Disposal: Bexar Waste (by Franchise Agreement) Telephone Service: AT&T

Cable Service: Time Warner (FiberOptic)

Water Source: Edwards Aquifer & Carrizo Aquifer

Max Pumping Capacity: 8.50 MGD

Peak Load: 3.00 MGD

Overhead Storage: .50 MG

Ground Storage: 3.75 MG

Sewer Service: Cibolo Creek Municipal Authority

Present Load: 45%

Storm Sewer: No

Sanitary Sewer: Yes

Taxes

Real Property) FY 2006/2007

City of Schertz: 0.4317 per $100.00 Valuation

Sales Tax

City: 1.0%

County: (Guadalupe) .5%

State: 6.25%

4B (Economic Development) .5%

State Taxes:

Personal: None

Corporate: None

Franchise: 6.25% per $1000 of stated capital retained earnings.

Labor Analysis:

Population: 26,500

Radius of Drawing Area: 30 miles (50 km)

Labor Force (San Antonio MSA): 900,000 +

Number of Work Stoppages in Last 5 Years: None

Wage and Salary Survey Available: Yes

Manufacturing Workers in Unions: None

Special events

The annual Schertz Fest, in late September, features big name performers, food, beverages and more.

The winter holiday season is busy, and includes the Senior Arts and Crafts Bazaar in November and the Festival of Angels in December. Schertz even MAKES REAL SNOW during the festival for children and adults to play in. Live music and free food top off the event.

In recent years the Schertz Civic Center has hosted one of the largest Wedding shows in the state of Texas. Wedding Parade is held the last Sunday in November and features over 75 vendors from around Central and South Texas.

Recent events

In recent years, Schertz has also become a prime location for filming movies in the San Antonio Area. In March 2007, the Cevallos Brothers filmed a portion of the movie The Ace in the Hole on location Schertz [2]. Other films shot in Schertz, include - Avenue of the Strongest: A September 11 Memorial Exhibit [3].

External links

• City of Schertz Official website
• Schertz Magazine
• Schertz EDC
• Schertz Corner

Additional Historical Resources

History of Lorna Dawson (nee Schertz)

Palo Alto Schertz History Project