The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 65, July 1961 - April, 1962 Page: 350
663 p. : ill., maps (some col.), ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
1910, but it continued downward nevertheless. After 1930 the
urban growth proceeded at a reasonably moderate rate of in-
crease and was bolstered by the war economy of the 1940's. The
concentration of war industries in Fort Worth, the location of
Camp Wolters at Mineral Wells and Camp Bowie at Brownwood,
and high birth rates were factors involved in the rates of urban
population increase and rural population decrease.32 The urban
migration was a part of a national trend during these years, and
it quickly spelled disaster for rural regions with poor soil such
as the heartland. There had been a sharp decrease in rural popu-
lation in the Cross Timbers during the 1940o's, and the trend was
still in evidence in the 1960 preliminary reports of the United
States Census. The strength of the urban movement was manifest
in the growing number of urban dwellers. Graham's population
of 8,505 and Olney's 3,872 inhabitants were combined to give
Young County a total urban population of 12,377.8 Young Coun-
ty's urban population had increased 17.8 percent during the pre-
ceding decade. Wise County in 1960 had an urban increase of
132.1 percent, Jack County had a 29.3 percent increase in its urban
inhabitants, and Parker County's increase was 2 .9 percent (Table
5). The increasing percentage of urban inhabitants in the heart-
land is shown in Table 7.
Even though the urban centers were increasing in population,
they were dependent upon the rural areas for their prosperity, and
by 1960 the decline in rural population left them with the prob-
lem of finding another life line. The decay of the rural economy
meant the downfall of the heartland culture which was largely
built upon the urban-rural agrarian trade relationships. Supplied
with the mechanical means for almost unlimited mobility by
19 g6o, heartlanders flocked by train, bus, and automobile in all di-
rections in wave-like rhythms. Some lived in rural areas or subur-
ban settlements near metropolitan Fort Worth and made daily
treks to and from the industrial center to work, play, or trade.
Dallas, Waco, Austin, Abilene, and Wichita Falls had the same
szKenneth R. Grubbs, Patterns of Agricultural Development in the Western
Cross Timbers Region of Texas During the Last Century (Ph.D. dissertation,
University of Texas, 1953), x91-192.
33U. S. Census of Population: z96o, Number of Inhabitants, Texas, Pt. 45, P. 27.346
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 65, July 1961 - April, 1962, periodical, 1962; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101195/m1/396/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.