Brady, Texas

According to the United States Census Bureau, Brady has a total area of {{convert|11.5|sqmi|km2}}, of which {{convert|9.2|sqmi|km2|abbr=on}} are land and {{convert|2.3|sqmi|km2|abbr=on}} (20.16%) are covered by water.

• 20px U.S. Highway 87
• 23px U.S. Highway 190
• 23px U.S. Highway 283
• 23px U.S. Highway 377
• 20px State Highway 71

The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the Köppen climate classification, Brady has a humid subtropical climate, Cfa on climate maps.{{Cite web|url=http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather-summary.php3?s=710114&cityname=Brady,+Texas,+United+States+of+America|title=Brady, Texas Köppen Climate Classification (Weatherbase)|website=Weatherbase|access-date=2019-08-01}}

{{Weather box

| width = auto

| collapsed = yes

| single line = yes

| location = Brady, Texas (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1893–1897, 1911–1913, 1937–present)

| Jan record high F = 91

| Feb record high F = 99

| Mar record high F = 97

| Apr record high F = 102

| May record high F = 107

| Jun record high F = 110

| Jul record high F = 110

| Aug record high F = 108

| Sep record high F = 109

| Oct record high F = 103

| Nov record high F = 92

| Dec record high F = 91

| year record high F =

| Jan high F = 58.4

| Feb high F = 62.4

| Mar high F = 69.7

| Apr high F = 77.2

| May high F = 83.6

| Jun high F = 90.0

| Jul high F = 93.2

| Aug high F = 93.7

| Sep high F = 86.8

| Oct high F = 78.4

| Nov high F = 67.4

| Dec high F = 59.6

| year high F = 76.7

| Jan mean F = 46.9

| Feb mean F = 50.6

| Mar mean F = 58.0

| Apr mean F = 65.2

| May mean F = 73.1

| Jun mean F = 79.6

| Jul mean F = 82.5

| Aug mean F = 82.7

| Sep mean F = 76.0

| Oct mean F = 66.5

| Nov mean F = 56.1

| Dec mean F = 48.2

| year mean F = 65.5

| Jan low F = 35.3

| Feb low F = 38.9

| Mar low F = 46.3

| Apr low F = 53.1

| May low F = 62.6

| Jun low F = 69.2

| Jul low F = 71.8

| Aug low F = 71.6

| Sep low F = 65.2

| Oct low F = 54.6

| Nov low F = 44.7

| Dec low F = 36.8

| year low F = 54.2

| Jan record low F = 0

| Feb record low F = 1

| Mar record low F = 7

| Apr record low F = 26

| May record low F = 37

| Jun record low F = 47

| Jul record low F = 54

| Aug record low F = 50

| Sep record low F = 33

| Oct record low F = 23

| Nov record low F = 10

| Dec record low F = -2

| year record low F =

| precipitation colour = green

| Jan precipitation inch = 1.33

| Feb precipitation inch = 1.71

| Mar precipitation inch = 2.33

| Apr precipitation inch = 2.05

| May precipitation inch = 3.79

| Jun precipitation inch = 2.88

| Jul precipitation inch = 2.11

| Aug precipitation inch = 2.21

| Sep precipitation inch = 2.76

| Oct precipitation inch = 2.71

| Nov precipitation inch = 1.87

| Dec precipitation inch = 1.63

| year precipitation inch = 27.38

| unit precipitation days = 0.01 in

| Jan precipitation days = 5.8

| Feb precipitation days = 5.6

| Mar precipitation days = 6.2

| Apr precipitation days = 5.4

| May precipitation days = 7.6

| Jun precipitation days = 5.7

| Jul precipitation days = 4.5

| Aug precipitation days = 5.2

| Sep precipitation days = 5.7

| Oct precipitation days = 6.0

| Nov precipitation days = 5.6

| Dec precipitation days = 6.1

| year precipitation days = 69.4

| Jan snow inch = 0.0

| Feb snow inch = 0.1

| Mar snow inch = 0.0

| Apr snow inch = 0.0

| May snow inch = 0.0

| Jun snow inch = 0.0

| Jul snow inch = 0.0

| Aug snow inch = 0.0

| Sep snow inch = 0.0

| Oct snow inch = 0.0

| Nov snow inch = 0.1

| Dec snow inch = 0.1

| year snow inch = 0.3

| unit snow days = 0.1 in

| Jan snow days = 0.0

| Feb snow days = 0.1

| Mar snow days = 0.0

| Apr snow days = 0.0

| May snow days = 0.0

| Jun snow days = 0.0

| Jul snow days = 0.0

| Aug snow days = 0.0

| Sep snow days = 0.0

| Oct snow days = 0.0

| Nov snow days = 0.1

| Dec snow days = 0.1

| year snow days = 0.3

| source = NOAA{{cite web

|url = https://www.weather.gov/wrh/climate?wfo=sjt

|title = NOWData - NOAA Online Weather Data

|publisher = National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

|access-date = January 1, 2024}}{{cite web

|url = https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/services/data/v1?dataset=normals-monthly-1991-2020&stations=USC00411017&format=pdf&dataTypes=MLY-TMAX-NORMAL,MLY-TMIN-NORMAL,MLY-TAVG-NORMAL,MLY-PRCP-NORMAL,MLY-SNOW-NORMAL

|title = Summary of Monthly Normals 1991-2020

|publisher = National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

|access-date = January 1, 2024}}

}}

{{US Census population

|1880= 115

|1890= 560

|1910= 2669

|1920= 2197

|1930= 3983

|1940= 5002

|1950= 5944

|1960= 5338

|1970= 5557

|1980= 5969

|1990= 5946

|2000= 5523

|2010= 5528

|2020= 5118

|footnote=U.S. Decennial Census{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html|title=Census of Population and Housing|publisher=Census.gov|access-date=June 4, 2015}}

}}

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 5,118 people, 1,978 households, and 1,225 families residing in the city.

As of the census of 2000, 5,523 people, 2,181 households, and 1,448 families resided in the city. The population density was {{convert|601.1|PD/sqmi|PD/km2|sp=us|adj=off}}. The 2,603 housing units averaged 283.3 per square mile (109.4/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 59.6% White, 2.2% Black, 0.3% Native American, 0.4% Asian, 0.1% from other races, and 0.6% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 36.7% of the population.

Of the 2,181 households, 32.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.7% were married couples living together, 12.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.6% were not families. About 31.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 17.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 3.11.

In the city, the population was distributed as 28.4% under the age of 18, 7.6% from 18 to 24, 23.5% from 25 to 44, 21.2% from 45 to 64, and 19.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 85.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.2 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $22,961, and for a family was $28,701. Males had a median income of $25,498 versus $17,289 for females. The per capita income for the city was $12,607. About 18.7% of families and 23.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 27.7% of those under age 18 and 22.1% of those age 65 or over.

When the area was settled in the 1870s, the community was named Brady City after Brady Creek, which runs through town. The name was shortened to Brady when the town was incorporated in 1906. In 1787–1788, Spanish explorer José Mares crossed the creek near the site of present Brady. Henry and Nancy Fulcher, the first settlers on Brady Creek, donated land for the townsite in the mid-1870s. Allison Ogden and his father-in-law, Ben Henton, built a store in 1875. A post office opened in 1876. After residents of McCulloch County chose Brady as county seat on May 15, 1876, the town grew fairly quickly. Brady had approximately 50 residents in 1877, and a stone courthouse was completed in 1878.

Thomas Maples began weekly publication of The Brady Sentinel in 1880; by 1884, Brady had two churches, a district school, three stores, two hotels, and 300 residents.

Stock raising was the primary occupation in the Brady area before 1900. In the 1870s and 1880s, local ranchers drove their cattle to markets in Kansas. Most other trade was with Brownwood and Lampasas. The number of farms and fences increased with the influx of immigrants in the late 1880s and 1890s. Poultry, sheep, goats, cotton, and pecans joined cattle as important sources of income for area residents.

When the Fort Worth and Rio Grande Railway arrived in 1903, Brady became a principal shipping point for Central Texas. The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe came to Brady in 1912. By 1914, the town had grown to include four churches, two schools, two banks, several processing plants, manufacturing and supply outlets, and 2,669 residents.

In 1926, Brady residents celebrated the building of 42-acre Richards Park by holding a two-day barbecue on the Fourth of July weekend; it was such a success that the celebration was labeled the "July Jubilee" and became an annual event.

Curtis Field opened just north of Brady in 1942 as a pilot-training school. Also during World War II, a German prisoner-of-war camp was built three miles east of the town; it housed more than 300 Germans, most of them members of Rommel's Afrika Korps.

Brady grew slowly from the 1920s through the 1950s, with population estimates reaching a peak of 6,800 in 1958. In 1959, the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway abandoned the section of track between Brownwood and Brady, thereby reducing Brady's access to outside markets. The population fell to 5,338 by 1961, and subsequently stabilized. Brady Reservoir was completed in 1963 for flood control, municipal and industrial water needs, and recreation. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe abandoned the track between Brady and Eden in 1972, leaving the town with only a branch track to connect it with the main line at Lometa, in Lampasas County.

Brady had 5,925 residents and 142 businesses in 1988. It was principally a farming and ranching community. Its industry included a mohair-combing plant and sand-mining operations. The Francis King Art Gallery and Museum houses works by King, a painter and sculptor, and a collection of restored antique cars. The stone courthouse, built in 1900, was renovated in 2009. A horse racetrack, G. Rollie White Downs, opened in 1989 and closed in 1990. Brady's population in 1990 was 5,946, but dropped to 5,528 in 2010.{{Cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hfb04|title=Brady, TX|last=Smyrl|first=Vivian Elizabeth|date=2010-06-12|website=Texas State Historical Association|language=en|access-date=2013-11-23}}

Around 1,200 students in Brady and Melvin attend Brady Independent School District schools. Brady Elementary consists of kindergarten-grade 5 and the principal is Christy Finn. Brady Middle School consists of grades 6–8 and the principal is Shona Moore. Brady High School consists of grades 9–12 with Russell Baldwin as principal. Hector Martinez serves as superintendent.

Brady High School is a Texas Education Agency "Recognized" campus.

File:Heart of Texas Healthcare System Brady Texas.jpg

File:Brady National Bank, Brady, TX IMG 2021.JPG

In 1947, the state of Texas opened the Brady State School for Negro Girls on a former prisoner-of-war camp in McCulloch County, near Brady, leased from the federal government of the United States. In 1950, the state replaced the Brady facility with the Crockett State School.{{Cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/jjc01|title=Crockett State School|last=Smyrl|first=Vivian Elizabeth|date=2010-06-12|website=Texas State Historical Association|language=en|access-date=2010-08-08}}

Regarding drinking water for the community of Brady, changes are being made to reduce radionuclides.[https://www.bradytx.us/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/2413] Public Drinking Water Notice | PWS/1540001/CO | [https://www.bradytx.us/Archive.aspx?AMID=90] Public Drinking Water Notices | Archive Center | Brady, TX

• Scott Appleton, 1963 Outland Trophy winner, was an AFL and NFL player
• Rita Crocker Clements, was a Republican Party organizer and a First Lady of the U.S. state of Texas.
• Norma Jean, country music singer, was on The Porter Wagoner Show and the Grand Ole Opry in the 1960s
• Terry Manning, music producer, lived in Brady as a child
• James Earl Rudder teacher Brady High School and later president of Texas A&M University
• Dan Collins Taylor, a rodeo performer from Doole near Brady

Image:Trucountry Inn Brady Texas.jpg|Trucountry Inn

Image:Brady City Hall.jpg|Fire Station

Image:Downtown Brady 1.jpg|Downtown

Image:Downtown Brady 3.jpg|Downtown

Image:McCulloch County Courthouse Brady.jpg|Courthouse

Image:Palace Theater Brady.jpg|Palace Theater

Image:United States Post Office Brady.jpg|United States Post Office

Image:1911 Brady Train Depot.jpg|Train Depot

{{Portal|Texas}}

• McCulloch County Courthouse
• Old McCulloch County Jail

{{notelist}}

{{Commons category|Brady, Texas}}

• [https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hfb04 Handbook of Texas Online: Brady, Texas]
• [http://www.heartotexasnews.com Brady Standard-Herald]
• [http://www.bradytx.us/ The City of Brady Website]

{{McCulloch County, Texas}}

{{Texas}}

{{Texas county seats}}

{{authority control}}

Category:Cities in Texas

Category:Cities in McCulloch County, Texas

Category:County seats in Texas