Iraan ( ) is a city in Pecos County, Texas, United States. Its population was 1,055 at the 2020 census. The city's name is a tribute to the town's founders, Ira and Ann Yates, who were owners of the ranch land upon which the town was built.
History
Iraan was an oil boom town, and it developed quickly after the discovery of the gigantic Yates Oil Field, which is adjacent to the town on the southwest. The oil field was discovered in 1926, and the first buildings in town were basic housing and infrastructure for workers on the field, all built by the Big Lake Oil Company, which became Plymouth Oil Company, which was purchased by the Ohio Oil Company, then purchased by Marathon Oil Company, and owned today by Kinder Morgan. By 1927, the town included a school, and the post office appeared in 1928. The population of the town in 1930 was about 1,600. About 3 mi (5 km) south of Iraan was the oil boomtown of Redbarn, which appeared almost immediately after discovery of the oil field, before Iraan itself. It was a collection of tents and shanties in the immediate vicinity of Ira Yates's ranch. Yates donated of his ranch to the town of Iraan to encourage further development there. In 1952, the town of Redbarn, which never had a permanent population of more than 75, was finally abandoned.
One of Iraan's most famous residents was V. T. Hamlin, the creator of the comic strip Alley Oop. Originally from Iowa, he worked in Iraan during the oil boom period of the late 1920s, and he either got the idea for the strip or created its earliest drafts there; the strip was first published in 1932 in Des Moines. He moved back to Iowa in 1929 and later to Florida. A park in Iraan is named after the strip.
In 2021, Jason Rybolt, the CEO of Iraan General Hospital, stated that Iraan had a 42% positivity rate of COVID-19. Rosa Flores and Ashley Killough of CNN described the town as being hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic in Texas in 2021.
Geography
Iraan is located at (30.913511, –101.898614). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land. State Highway 349 and U.S. Highway 190 converge at Iraan. The Pecos River loops around the town to the north and east.
Iraan is the second largest town in the second largest county in the second largest state in the United States, which is the second largest country in North America.
Climate
According to the Köppen climate classification system, Iraan has a semiarid climate, BSk on climate maps.
Demographics
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Iraan had a population of 1,055, 391 households, and 291 families; the median age was 35.2 years with 29.2% of residents under the age of 18 and 10.9% 65 years of age or older.
For every 100 females there were 97.9 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 104.1 males age 18 and over.
There were 391 households in Iraan, of which 44.2% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 58.8% were married-couple households, 18.4% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 17.4% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 19.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
! Race !! Number !! Percent
|-
| White || 495 || 46.9%
|-
| Black or African American || 7 || 0.7%
|-
| American Indian and Alaska Native || 19 || 1.8%
|-
| Asian || 10 || 0.9%
|-
| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander || 0 || 0.0%
|-
| Some other race || 267 || 25.3%
|-
| Two or more races || 257 || 24.4%
|-
| Hispanic or Latino (of any race) || 655 || 62.1%
|}
2000 census
At the 2000 census,