Mansfield, Texas

Mansfield, Texas
City
Location of Mansfield in Tarrant County, Texas
Country	United States
State	Texas
Counties	Tarrant, Johnson, Ellis County
Government
• Type	Council-Manager
• City Council	Mayor David L. Cook Brent Newsom Stephen Lindsey Darryl Haynes Cory Hoffman Wendy Burgess Larry Broseh
• City Manager	Clayton Chandler
Area
• Total	36.5 sq mi (94.6 km2)
• Land	36.5 sq mi (94.5 km2)
• Water	0.04 sq mi (0.1 km2)
Elevation	604 ft (184 m)
Population  (2010)
• Total	56,368
• Density	1,500/sq mi (600/km2)
Time zone	UTC-6 (CST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5 (CDT)
ZIP code	76063
Area code(s)	817, 682
FIPS code	48-46452Template:GR
GNIS feature ID	1340898Template:GR
Website	mansfield-tx.gov

Mansfield is a city in Ellis, Johnson, and Tarrant counties in the U.S. state of Texas, and a suburb of Fort Worth. As of the 2010 census, the population was 56,368.

In 2009, CNN/Money Magazine rated Mansfield as one of the "Best Places to Live" in the United States, ranking 24th out of the top 100 places.

In 2012, CNN/Money Magazine ranked Mansfield as one of the "Best Places to Live" in the USA again, at #30 of 100.

In 2007, the same magazine placed Mansfield in the 83rd spot in its "Best Places to Live: Top 100" in America.

History

The first wave of European settlers arrived in the rolling Cross Timbers country of north central Texas in the 1840s. Primarily of Scotch-Irish origins, these pioneer farmers came for the most part from southern states, following the frontier as it shifted west of the Mississippi. They entered an area where Native Americans had been living for thousands of years. The Comanche posed a serious threat to the settlers, and in 1849, the U.S. Army established Fort Worth to protect the farms along the sparsely populated frontier.

The area southeast of the fort (and of the Trinity River) was well protected and presumably fairly well settled by the early 1850s. In one well-documented case, eight related families migrated to the area in 1853 from Illinois. Three of the four Gibson brothers in this group established homesteads about 4 miles (6 km) northwest of present-day Mansfield. This settlement, which became known as the Gibson Community, included a school and a church building by 1860.

When R.S. Man and Julian Feild arrived around 1856 and built a grist mill at the crossroads that was to become the center of Mansfield, the beginnings of the community probably existed in the oak groves bordering Walnut Creek (originally called Cedar Bluff Creek). The Walnut Creek Congregation of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church had organized itself in 1854. Members met in each other's homes, so it is suspected that there was a cluster of houses in the area.

In 1856, Julian Feild purchased 540 acres (2.2 km²) in the Mansfield area. Man and Feild completed their three-story brick grist mill sometime between 1856 and 1859. The mill, which produced flour and meal, was the first built in North Texas to utilize steam power and enjoyed patronage as far south as San Antonio and as far north as Oklahoma. The location of the mill in southeastern Tarrant County perhaps reflects the advanced state of wheat cultivation in the area and the ready availability of wood to feed the mill's steam boilers.

Feild opened a general merchandise store at the same time as the mill, located across Broad Street. He built a log house for his family, which also served as an inn for travelers and customers. By 1860, the nucleus of the future city existed. The first post office was established that year, with Julian Feild as postmaster.

During the War Between the States, the Man and Feild Mill supplied meal and flour to the Confederate States Army, hauling it to Shreveport, Louisiana, and Jefferson City, Missouri. As was common practice, the owners tithed ten percent of the mill's production to the Confederacy. The small community around the mill was unique in Tarrant County in that it prospered throughout the Civil War. "Feild's Freighters", assembled in ox-drawn wagon trains, went as far as Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where a part of the Indian Wars raged in the southern plains in the late 1860s and 1870s.

The prospering community which had grown up around the Man and Feild mill took on the name of "Mansfeild", a combination of the names of the founders. Repeated misspellings over the years resulted in the acceptance of the conventional spelling of "Mansfield." The town incorporated in 1909, continuing to be a hub for the surrounding farmland.

Notable people

• John Howard Griffin (1920-1980), civil rights activist, author of the award-winning book, Black Like Me.

Geography

Mansfield is located at 32°34′38″N 97°7′36″W (32.577087, -97.126699)Template:GR.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 36.5 square miles (94.6 km²), of which 36.5 square miles (94.5 km²) is land and 0.04 square mile (0.1 km²) (0.11%) is water.

Climate data for Mansfield, TX
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Mean daily maximum °F (°C)	56 (13)	60 (16)	67 (19)	76 (24)	82 (28)	89 (32)	94 (34)	95 (35)	88 (31)	77 (25)	66 (19)	57 (14)	76 (24)
Mean daily minimum °F (°C)	33 (1)	37 (3)	44 (7)	52 (11)	61 (16)	69 (21)	72 (22)	72 (22)	65 (18)	54 (12)	44 (7)	35 (2)	53 (12)
Average precipitation inches (mm)	2.07 (53)	2.74 (70)	3.63 (92)	2.79 (71)	4.53 (115)	4.01 (102)	2.42 (61)	2.27 (58)	3.22 (82)	4.30 (109)	2.58 (66)	2.50 (64)	37.06 (943)
Source:

Demographics

In 2010 Mansfield had a population of 56,368. The median age was 34.0. The racial and ethnic composition of the population was 64.4% non-Hispanic white, 14.2% black or African American, 0.6% Native American, 1.5% Vietnamese, 2.2% other Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 0.2% non-Hispanic from some other race, 2.8% from two or more races and 15.4% Hispanic or Latino.

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 42,958 people. The population density was 768.5 people per square mile (296.7/km²). There were 9,172 housing units at an average density of 251.4 per square mile (97.1/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 76.9% White, 11.7% African American, 0.3% Native American, 3.8% Asian, 0% Pacific Islander, 4.9% from other races, and 2.5% from two or more races. 16.4% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 8,881 households out of which 50.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 74.5% were married couples living together, 8.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 13.9% were non-families. 10.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 3.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.08 and the average family size was 3.32.

In the city the population was spread out with 31.8% under the age of 18, 7.8% from 18 to 24, 34.6% from 25 to 44, 20.2% from 45 to 64, and 5.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 102.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.1 males.

According to a 2006 estimate, the median family income in Mansfield is $84,589. Males had a median income of $50,084 versus $30,796 for females. The per capita income for the city was $26,446. About 2.7% of families and 4.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.4% of those under age 18 and 5.4% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Mansfield Legacy High School

Students living in the Tarrant County portion of Mansfield, as well as most of those living in the Johnson County portion, are served by the Mansfield Independent School District, with the remainder being served by Midlothian Independent School District. The high schools in the district are Mansfield High School, Mansfield Summit High School, Mansfield Timberview High School, Mansfield Legacy High School, Frontier High School, Mansfield Lake Ridge High School, and the Alternative Education Center consisting of the ACE program and the BIC program. There are 22 elementary schools, 6 intermediate schools, and 6 middle schools. The 23rd elementary school- Judy Miller, is under construction. All district schools except high schools are named after Mansfield district's notable past teachers and educators.

The district's athletic facilities are the Vernon Newsom Stadium and MISD Natatorium located in the MISD Multi-Purpose Athletics Complex and the RL Anderson Football Stadium. The recently opened Center for Performing Arts consists of two venues: the 5,500-seat Claude H. Cunningham Performance Hall and the John Washington Professional Development Center which accomodates 500.

Beginning in the fall semester of 2011, Frontier High School opened its doors to students who applied and were accepted to the school. Frontier High School, located within the Ben Barber Career Tech Academy, will feature state-of-the-art technology with individual laptops provided for each student enrolled in its programs. The focus of the campus is to provide students with a college experience by allowing technology to be more easily integrated into the classroom. Cellphones are allowed to be used throughout the entire campus and in the classroom at teacher discretion. The library has also been turned into a student area referred to as the "cube". Designed as an area for students to do work, Frontier students have found that it is severely overcrowded and concerns have been voiced.

The district also has programs with Tarrant County College to provide students with dual credit options to allow them to gain college hours in high school.

Mansfield School Desegregation Incident

See Mansfield School Desegregation Incident

Entertainment and Attractions

Established in 1917, Farr Best Theater is the city's historical venue for concerts, musical revue and live performances. For softball and baseball tournaments, the Big League Dreams has eight replica fields and an indoor soccer pavilion. Mansfield Historical Museum chronicles the city's history from a prairie outpost in the past to a thriving community now. The Hawaiian Falls Water Park is a popular 10-acre destination during the hot summer months; while Historic Downtown is being revitalized to be a year-round destination. Downtown hosts annual festivals like the Music Festival. Mansfield also has an extensive park system consisting of a 11 parks, 3.5 miles of hiking/biking trail, activity center, four athletics fields and Mansfield National Golf Course.

Healthcare

Mansfield has one acute-care hospital, Methodist Mansfield Medical Center, a 200+-bed hospital that is a part of the Methodist Health System in Dallas. Mansfield also has five nursing homes, two urgent care centers, Kindred- an acute rehab hospital, three assisted living/senior apartments and two Cook Childrens clinics.

Highways

Texas State Highway 360

U.S. Route 287 in Texas

Farm to Market Road 157

Water and Sewer Division

The Director of Utilities is Joe Smolinski. There is two immediate departments under Joe Smolinski, Utility Field Operations and The Water Treatment Plant. The Utility Field Operations manager is Jesse Fernandez and the Water Treatment Plant manager is Robby Isbell.

The water treatment plant is a surface water treatment plant and has two different treatment processes. The conventional side treats water through sedimentation basins and filters. The membrane side treats water through UV light and micro filtration. Both processes efficiently and effectively clean the water and then enter the disinfection as a mixed blend. The water is chlorinated with an electrified brine solution, also known as bleach. The brine is basically salt water with electricity passed through it turning it into bleach. After the disinfection, the water is them sent to clear wells for storage before the water is sent to pumping stations and water towers. Mansfield currently has three towers and two pumping stations to maintain a minimum 35 PSI throughout the distribution system.

The water distribution system consists of water mains, service lines, water meters, fire hydrants and water valves. There is around a dozen employees that are currently in charge of maintaining the distribution system. This ranges from meter readings to minor and major line repairs. There is over 100 miles of water main, 19,000 water meters, 500 hydrants and thousands of operating valves that need to be maintained 24/7.

Where water goes in, water must come out. That's where the waste water collection comes in. The collection system consists of sewer main, manholes, lift stations and force mains. There is also about a dozen people who maintain the collection system as well. The collection system is about 100 miles of sewer main, about a dozen lift station and thousands of manholes that also need to be maintained 24/7.

The after hours emergency line is 817-473-8411. After hours is after 5pm Monday through Friday before 8am the next day and weekends.

External links

• City of Mansfield official website
• Mansfield Independent School District
• Mansfield Historical Society
• Mansfield local business guide