Kermit is a city in and the county seat of Winkler County, Texas, United States. Its population was 6,267 at the 2020 census. The city was named after Kermit Roosevelt<!-- uncited, conflicts with below following a visit by his father, President Theodore Roosevelt, to the county -->.

History

thumb|left|Old Winkler County Courthouse in Kermit, circa 1910

Establishment

Kermit began as a convenient supply center for the scattered ranches of the area and became the seat of Winkler County when the county was organized in 1910. The first public school and the post office opened the same year. The town's namesake, Kermit Roosevelt, once visited the T Bar Ranch in northern Winkler County to hunt pronghorn <!-- no native antelope in Texas -->a few months before the town was named. In 1916, the county suffered a drought. Many homesteaders and ranchers were forced to leave. In 1924, only Ern Baird's family remained in the town. Only one student attended school in the county for five months of 1924. Only three houses and the courthouse were in use by 1926.

Discovery of oil

On July 16, 1926, however, oil was discovered in Hendrick oilfield, near Kermit, and the town experienced a boom. In 1927, an estimated population of 1,000 was reported; by 1929, that number increased to 1,500. On March 4, 1929, the Texas-New Mexico Railway reached the town.

Great Depression and incorporation

The Great Depression had little effect on the city throughout much of the 1930s, but the population decreased significantly in the early 1930s, and both population and business figures rose at the end of the 1930s, when 2,700 residents and 180 businesses were listed. On February 15, 1938, residents voted to incorporate. During the 1940s, the oil boom caused real estate prices to double. Housing was scarce, and some people lived in tents. A bank was opened by 1945. The grade school had to be enlarged, and a hospital was built.

Oil boom days

thumb|left|View of Kermit

In the 1950s, the town continued to grow; housing additions were built. By 1960, the city had a population of 10,465 and 260 businesses, and additional growth estimated to be over 12,000 during the decade. Flooding became a problem because of the flat terrain, so new crown streets were constructed to solve the flooding problem, and more housing additions were built. The town moved the last working wooden derrick in the Permian Basin from Loving County to Pioneer Park in Kermit in 1966 as a symbol of the importance of the oil industry to the economy of Kermit and Winkler County. In the 1970s and 1980s, the population of Kermit bounced between 8,500 and 6,912, and the number of businesses moved between 116 and 200. Improvements were made in city services, and more housing additions were built.

On June 3, 1980, a 9-ft-wide (3 m) sinkhole opened on the property of Atlantic Richfield Company and got progressively larger. Within four days, it had become a tourist attraction, with a crater measuring , and as much as deep. The 1990 United States census set the population of Kermit at 6,875.

Geography

Kermit is located at (31.853995, 103.092336). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land. The city is located in a semiarid region of the Permian Basin.

Climate

This area has a large amount of sunshine year round due to its stable descending air and high pressure. According to the Köppen climate classification, Kermit has a hot arid climate, BWh on climate maps, slightly too warm to be a cool arid climate (BWk) and slightly too dry for semiarid classification.

Demographics

2020 census

{| class="wikitable"

|+ Racial composition as of the 2020 census

! Race !! Number !! Percent

|-

| White || 2,944 || 47.0%

|-

| Black or African American || 138 || 2.2%

|-

| American Indian and Alaska Native || 124 || 2.0%

|-

| Asian || 70 || 1.1%

|-

| Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander || 1 || 0.0%

|-

| Some other race || 1,646 || 26.3%

|-

| Two or more races || 1,344 || 21.4%

|-

| Hispanic or Latino (of any race) || 4,155 || 66.3%

|}

As of the 2020 census, Kermit had a population of 6,267, 2,193 households, and 1,493 families. The median age was 35.1 years; 28.3% of residents were under 18 and 12.8% of residents were 65 or older. For every 100 females, there were 105.2 males, and for every 100 females 18 and over, there were 105.6 males 18 and over.

Of the 2,193 households in Kermit, 39.0% had children under 18 living in them, 50.7% were married-couple households, 20.7% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 23.2% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 22.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

2010 census

At the 2010 census, 5,690 people resided in the city.

The median household income was $38,825, as opposed to $29,143 in 2000, and the median family income was $31,690. Males had a median income of $29,596 versus $18,380 for females. The per capita income for the city was $12,949. About 15.7% of families and 20.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 27.8% of those under 18 and 16.7% of those 65 or over.

2000 census

At the 2000 census, established in 1928, in a consolidation of two area school districts. The district now has three campuses: Kermit Elementary (kindergarten to grades 4), Kermit Junior High (grades 5–8), and Kermit High School (grades 9–12).

All of Winkler County is zoned to Odessa College.

Newspapers

  • Odessa American (shipped from Odessa, Texas)

Hazardous waste site

In July, 2017, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gave Kermit a federal Superfund designation, marking it as one of the most hazardous waste sites in the country. The EPA said in a statement that a portion of the Santa Rosa Aquifer in Kermit has been added to the Superfund program's National Priorities List. The aquifer in the city west of Odessa has a contaminated groundwater plume a mile long and 1.5 miles wide.

Notable people

  • Claude Batchelor, U.S. Army soldier convicted of collaborating with China
  • William Frankfather, actor
  • Jim "Razor" Sharp, two-time PRCA world-champion bull rider
  • Jay Thomas, Emmy-winning actor, born in Kermit (father was a West Texas oil man) and raised in New Orleans
  • Del Thompson, American football player
  • John Weaver, founder of the Lincoln Project.
  • John Varnell, American football player

References

  • City of Kermit website
  • Kermit in the Handbook of Texas