thumb|A burn ban was declared in Big Sandy in the summer of 2011.

thumb|Big Sandy City Hall

thumb|A glimpse of downtown Big Sandy

thumb|Big Sandy Music Hall, originally the First [[Baptist Church, which has since relocated to a new facility north of town.]]

thumb|Entrance to Davis Ranch in Big Sandy, Texas; the Davis Ranch Arena hosts annual rodeo events, including a barrel race in October.

Big Sandy is a town in Upshur County, Texas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town's population was 1,231. A lake of the same name is cut nearly in half by U.S. Highway 80, the main thoroughfare of Big Sandy. It lies directly west of the larger cities of Gladewater and Longview.

The Sabine River flows just south of Big Sandy. In the 19th century, Walters' Bluff Ferry operated on the Sabine, with passage across costing 40 cents per person and up to 75 cents for wagons.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 1.7&nbsp;square miles (4.3&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>), of which 0.04&nbsp;square miles (0.1&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>) of it (1.80%) is covered by water.

Demographics

{| class="wikitable"

|+Big Sandy racial composition as of 2020<br /> (NH = Non-Hispanic)

!Race

!Number

!Percentage

|-

|White (NH)

|916

|74.41%

|-

|Black or African American (NH)

|169

|13.73%

|-

|Native American or Alaska Native (NH)

|8

|0.65%

|-

|Asian (NH)

|2

|0.16%

|-

|Pacific Islander (NH)

|1

|0.08%

|-

|Some other race (NH)

|2

|0.16%

|-

|Multiracial (NH)

|63

|5.12%

|-

|Hispanic or Latino

|70

|5.69%

|-

|Total

|1,231

|

|}

As of the 2020 United States census, 1,231 people, 524 households, and 300 families resided in the town.

As of the census It was then developed as the International ALERT Academy, the home of the Air Land Emergency Resource Team (ALERT), a Christian program training young men in disaster relief and emergency services. The academy also serves as a camp and conference center and holds four-week summer programs for boys and girls. It now serves as the official headquarters of IBLP after it relocated from the Chicago area, where it was founded (this took place after Bill Gothard, IBLP's founder and president, resigned amidst controversy over allegations of sexual misconduct).

Needlecraft businesses

In the late 1970s, local residents Jerry Gentry and Annie Potter began a mail-order business from their home in Big Sandy and called it Annie's Attic. The business grew rapidly into a multimillion-dollar enterprise, publishing magazines and catalogs for needlecraft enthusiasts. After the couple divorced in the early 1980s, Annie continued to preside over Annie's Attic, while Jerry launched a near-replicate business called the Needlecraft Shop, also in Big Sandy. By the 1990s, both businesses had been purchased in separate transactions by Dynamic Resource Group (DRG), a publishing company in Berne, Indiana. DRG management moved both companies' operations to Indiana. Before doing so, it established a new company, Strategic Fulfillment Group (SFG), on the southwest edge of Big Sandy. SFG, which handles mailing and subscription fulfillment for DRG and other clients, is now Big Sandy and Upshur County's largest employer.

"Texas' Largest Manhunt"

On July 10–11, 1986, more than 1,000 law enforcement officers responded to Big Sandy Chief of Police Richard Lingle's request for assistance after convicted murderer Jerry "The Animal" McFadden escaped from the Upshur County jail. He took jailer Rosalie Williams, the wife of a Department of Public Safety trooper, as hostage. Lingle broadcast his call for help after Upshur County authorities were unable to track down McFadden and his hostage that evening. Responding officers securely cordoned off the city, leaving McFadden little chance of escape, and he was recaptured and returned to jail. Due to severe overcrowding in prisons, he had been paroled, despite a past marked by violence, and committed additional crimes. McFadden was executed in October 1999 for the murder of Suzanne Denise Harrison, a teen from nearby Hawkins.

Sports

The Big Sandy High School football team won three Texas Class B state championships in consecutive years 1973–1975. Although the state finals game in 1974 ended in a 0–0 tie (vs Celina), UIL granted both teams co-championships. In 2005, the Wildcats again reached the state 1-A finals, falling 21–20 to Stratford.

Notable people

  • Lovie Smith, former head coach of the Houston Texans, Illinois Fighting Illini, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the Chicago Bears, was raised in Big Sandy
  • Henry Thomas, blues musician, was born here
  • David Overstreet, former Miami Dolphin was born and raised in Big Sandy.

Education

The Town of Big Sandy is served by the Big Sandy Independent School District.

References