Whitney is a city in Hill County, Texas, United States. Its population was 1,992 at the 2020 census.
The city is east of Lake Whitney.
History
Whitney was established in 1876 when the Houston and Texas Central Railroad (H&TC) built a line through Hill County to Cleburne. The town's namesake comes from Charles A. Whitney, principal stock holder of H&TC, and son-in-law of Charles Morgan.
Battle of the Benches
In 1922, D. ("Doctor Dee") Scarborough, the druggist of Whitney installed a bench outside of his store. Within a short period of time, the bench became home to the local old men seeking refuge from the sun and women; comfortably installed on its well-worn planks, they whittled, spat tobacco juice on the sidewalks, studied the weather and damned the modern world with lordliness and venom.
In the following years after World War II, Whitney began to modernize. The town's housewives absorbed the spirit of change and called on the young Mayor Fred Basham to remove the bench, complaining about the spitting and language of the old men. The mayor complied and had the chief of police move the bench into an alley nearby. Upon the discovery their sanctuary was ignominiously lugged into a nearby alley, the old men of the town angrily threw a petition to asking for the bench to be placed back.
When the town ignored the old men, they dragged nail kegs to the spot where the bench had originally reposed. The chief of police threatened to confiscate the nail kegs. That was more than the old men could take. They demanded, and finally received a special municipal election to decide whether the bench should be restored.
Geography
Located in western Hill County Texas State Highway 22 passes through the southeast side of the city, leading east to Hillsboro, the county seat, and west to Meridian. Lake Whitney State Park is west of Whitney via Farm to Market Road 1244.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which , or 1.23%, is covered by water.
|2020=1992
2020 census
{| class="wikitable"
|+Whitney racial composition<br> (NH = Non-Hispanic)
!Race
!Number
!Percentage
|-
|White (NH)
|1,436
|72.09%
|-
|Black or African American (NH)
|133
|6.68%
|-
|Native American or Alaska Native (NH)
|3
|0.15%
|-
|Asian (NH)
|15
|0.75%
|-
|Pacific Islander (NH)
|1
|0.05%
|-
|Some Other Race (NH)
|5
|0.25%
|-
|Mixed/Multi-Racial (NH)
|82
|4.12%
|-
|Hispanic or Latino
|317
|15.91%
|-
|Total
|1,992
|
|}
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 1,992 people, 762 households, and 497 families residing in the town.
2000 census
At the 2000 census,
- John Prentice, cartoonist and comic-book artist was born in Whitney.
- Sanger (Whitey) Shafer, accomplished country music songwriter and musician
References
External links
- City of Whitney official website