Victoria (Texas)
Victoria County
48-75428
Victoria is a city in Victoria County in the U.S. state of Texas in the United States. It is home to the University of Houston - Victoria and Victoria College, a community college. Victoria is also the county seat ( county seat ) of the Victoria County.
The city was named after Queen Victoria of not about Great Britain, but after General Guadalupe Victoria, the first president of independent Mexico.
Geography
Victoria is 45 km inland from the Gulf of Mexico and in two hours by car to reach the cities Corpus Christi, Houston, San Antonio and Austin. With its location in the midst of these metropolitan areas, the city serves as a regional center for seven counties.
History
On April 8, 1824 Don Martin De León requested to settle 41 Mexican families with the provincial delegation and founded the town of Nuestra Señora Guadalupe de Jesús Victoria. The license was granted on 13 April. His wife Patricia De León was $ 9,800, cows, horses and mules in which she had inherited from her father. The city was the only predominantly Mexican colony in Texas and the Mexican national De Leon was several times the legal preference in the numerous border disputes with the American settlements, enclosed Guadalupe Victoria.
In 1829 he was awarded a second contract to 150 to settle more families, and founded the city of Victoria. Victoria was incorporated in 1839 under the Republic of Texas and is the second oldest incorporated city in Texas.
The city was in 1840 for a short time as the capital of the provisional government of the Republic of the Rio Grande.
On 14 May 2003 Victoria received international attention when 19 illegal immigrants died when they were smuggled into the United States. 74 illegal immigrants should be moved to a trailer of the Mexican- American border to Houston. Due to lack of ventilation led to dehydration and heat exhaustion. The truck driver Tyrone Williams was taken a few minutes south of Victoria motorists to stop, because they could see people in the trailer, signaled the help you need. The driver stopped at a gas station, sparked the trailer and drove away, leaving the immigrants inside. 17 died in the trailer and two others died later at the nearby hospital.
Demography
According to the United States Census 2000, there were 55.245 inhabitants in 22,220 households. The population was composed of 93.35 % White, 1.73 % Asian and 1.22 % Black. Hispanics or Latinos represented 5.33% of the population. The per capita income was 23,877 U.S. dollars and 5.4% of the population lived below the poverty line.
Religion
Victoria is the seat of the Diocese of Victoria in Texas.
Traffic
Known as the South Texas Crossroads (German South Texas crossing) is Victoria on the intersection of three major highways:
- U.S. Highway 59 (future Interstate 69) leads southwest to Laredo and northeast to Houston, where it meets Interstate 10 and 45. He is also known as Lloyd M. Bentsen Highway.
- The U.S. Highway 77 leads north to Dallas and Fort Worth, where it meets Interstate 35 and 37, and to the south to the Rio Grande Valley.
- The U.S. Highway 87 leads north-west to San Antonio and Interstate 35 and south-east to Port Lavaca.
In Victoria is also home to the Victoria Regional Airport.
Twinning
Victoria is connected by a twinning with the Spanish city of Vitoria- Gasteiz in the Basque Country.
Sons and daughters of the town
- Frankie Miller ( born 1930 /31), country musician
- Matt Prokop (* 1990), actor
- Edward F. Knipling (1909-2000), entomologist