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73-531: Wichita Falls ( / ˈ w ɪ tʃ ɪ t ɑː / WITCH -ih-tah ) is a city in and the county seat of Wichita County, Texas , United States . It is the principal city of the Wichita Falls metropolitan statistical area , which encompasses all of Archer , Clay , and Wichita Counties. According to the 2020 census , it had a population of 102,316, making it the 43rd-most populous city in Texas. The city

146-531: A Superior Court and Sheriff (as an officer of the court ), both located in a designated "shire town". Bennington County, Vermont has two shire towns; the court for "North Shire" is in the shire town Manchester , and the Sheriff for the county and court for "South Shire" are in the shire town Bennington. In 2024, Connecticut , which had not defined their counties for anything but statistical, historical and weather warning purposes since 1960, along with ending

219-471: A Republican, had held the senate seat since 2001, until Pat Fallon won election in 2018. Wichita Falls is part of Texas's 13th congressional district for the U.S. House of Representatives. Ronny Jackson , a Republican, has held this seat since 2021. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice James V. Allred Unit is located in Wichita Falls, 4 mi (6.4 km) northwest of downtown. The prison

292-614: A U.S. record not topped by an individual tornado until the F5 Moore–Oklahoma City tornado of May 3, 1999. Wichita Falls is about 15 miles (24 km) south of the border with Oklahoma , 115 mi (185 km) northwest of Fort Worth , and 140 mi (230 km) southwest of Oklahoma City . According to the United States Census Bureau , the city has a total area of 70.71 square miles (183.1 km), of which 0.02 square miles (0.052 km) (0.03%)

365-410: A county seat may be an independent city surrounded by, but not part of, the county of which it is the administrative center; for example, Fairfax City is both the county seat of Fairfax County, Virginia and completely surrounded by Fairfax County, but the city is politically independent of the county. When the county seat is in the independent city, government offices such as the courthouse may be in

438-667: A county was the magistrate , who oversaw both the day-to-day operations of the county as well as civil and criminal cases. The current number of counties mostly resembled that of the later years of the Qing dynasty . Changes of location and names of counties in Chinese history have been a major field of research in Chinese historical geography, especially from the 1960s to the 1980s. There are 1,355 counties in Mainland China out of

511-656: A fatality) in the U.S. back to 1880. The Fujita scale was adopted in most areas outside of the United Kingdom . On February 1, 2007, the Fujita scale was decommissioned, and the Enhanced Fujita Scale was introduced in the United States. The new scale more accurately matches wind speeds to the severity of damage caused by the tornado. Though each damage level is associated with a wind speed,

584-530: A flood destroyed the original waterfall on the Wichita River for which the city was named. After nearly 100 years of visitors wanting to visit the no longer existing falls, the city built an artificial waterfall beside the river in Lucy Park. The recreated falls are 54 ft (16 m) high and recirculate at 3,500 gallons per minute. They are visible to south-bound traffic on Interstate 44 . On

657-403: A means to differentiate tornado intensity and path area, assigned wind speeds to damage that were, at best, educated guesses. Fujita and others recognized this immediately and intensive engineering analysis was conducted through the rest of the 1970s. This research, as well as subsequent research, showed that tornado wind speeds required to inflict the described damage were actually much lower than

730-664: A number of semiprofessional, developmental, and minor league sports teams, including the Wichita Falls Drillers (bankrupt 2002), a semipro football team that won numerous league titles and a national championship; the professional basketball team Wichita Falls Texans (relocated 1994, bankrupt 1996) of the Continental Basketball Association ; Wichita Falls Fever (bankrupt 1992) in the Lone Star Soccer Alliance ;

803-658: A project now underway to transform U.S. 277 into a continuous four-lane expressway between Wichita Falls and Abilene. The city operates a bus system, Falls Ride, which runs on an hourly schedule with seven routes (except on Sundays, when only one route is in operation). Greyhound Lines provides intercity bus service to other locations served by Greyhound via its new terminal at the Wichita Falls Travel Center located at Fourth and Scott in downtown. Skylark Van Service shuttles passengers to and from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on several runs during

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876-467: A river walk that goes to a man-made waterfall feature in lieu of the original falls for which the city was named (the original falls, located in the river, were destroyed in a 19th-century flood; the new waterfall attraction, located in the park and discharging into the river, were built in response to numerous tourist requests to visit the "Wichita Falls"). It is one of 37 parks throughout the city. The parks range in size from small neighborhood facilities to

949-502: A tornado rated F4 based on damage with a path length of 63 miles (101 km) and a path width of 800 yards (730 m) would be rated F,P,P 4,4,4. Use of the Pearson scales was not widespread, however, and it remained more common to simply list a tornado's path length and path width directly. For purposes such as tornado climatology studies, Fujita scale ratings may be grouped into classes. The Fujita scale, introduced in 1971 as

1022-581: A total of 2,851 county-level divisions. In Taiwan , the first counties were first established in 1661 by the Kingdom of Tungning . The later ruler Qing empire inherited this type of administrative divisions. With the increase of Han Chinese population in Taiwan, the number of counties also grew by time. By the end of Qing era, there were 11 counties in Taiwan. Protestant missionaries in China first romanized

1095-472: Is 117 °F (47 °C) on June 28, 1980. Snowfall is sporadic and averages 4.1 in (10 cm) per season, while rainfall is typically greatest in early summer. From 2010 through 2013, Wichita Falls, along with a large portion of the south-central US, experienced a persistent drought . In September 2011, Wichita Falls became the first Texas city to have 100 days of 100 °F (38 °C) or higher within one year. On every day from June 22 to August 12,

1168-537: Is Darron Leiker. Wichita Falls is located in the 69th district of the Texas House of Representatives . Lanham Lyne , a Republican , represented the district from 2011 to 2013; he was the mayor of Wichita Falls from 2005 to 2010. When Lyne declined to seek a second term in 2012, voters chose another Republican, James Frank . Wichita Falls is located in the 30th district of the Texas Senate . Craig Estes ,

1241-500: Is a scale for rating tornado intensity , based primarily on the damage tornadoes inflict on human-built structures and vegetation. The official Fujita scale category is determined by meteorologists and engineers after a ground or aerial damage survey , or both; and depending on the circumstances, ground-swirl patterns ( cycloidal marks), weather radar data, witness testimonies, media reports and damage imagery, as well as photogrammetry or videogrammetry if motion picture recording

1314-598: Is a section of Middle Township , an incorporated municipality. In some states, often those that were among the original Thirteen Colonies , county seats include or formerly included "Court House" as part of their name, such as Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia . Most counties have only one county seat. However, some counties in Alabama , Arkansas , Georgia , Iowa , Kentucky , Massachusetts , Mississippi , Missouri , New Hampshire , New York , and Vermont have two or more county seats, usually located on opposite sides of

1387-718: Is available. The Fujita scale was replaced with the Enhanced Fujita scale (EF-Scale) in the United States in February 2007. In April 2013, Canada adopted the EF-Scale over the Fujita scale along with 31 "Specific Damage Indicators" used by Environment Canada (EC) in their ratings. The scale was introduced in 1971 by Ted Fujita of the University of Chicago , in collaboration with Allen Pearson , head of

1460-581: Is covered by water. Wichita Falls experiences a humid subtropical climate ( Köppen climate classification Cfa ), featuring long, very hot and humid summers, and cool winters. The city has some of the highest summer daily maximum temperatures in the entire U.S. outside of the Desert Southwest . Temperatures have hit 100 °F (38 °C) as early as March 27 and as late as October 17, but more typically reach that level on 28 days annually, with 102 days of 90 °F (32 °C) or higher annually;

1533-972: Is named for former Governor James V. Allred , a Democrat and a native of Bowie, Texas , who lived early in his career in Wichita Falls. The United States Postal Service operates the Wichita Falls Post Office, the Morningside Post Office, the Bridge Creek Post Office, and the Sheppard Air Force Base Post Office. Public primary and secondary education is covered by the following school districts: Wichita Falls Independent School District , City View Independent School District , Burkburnett Independent School District , and Iowa Park Consolidated Independent School District . Several private and parochial schools operate in

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1606-426: Is the western terminus for Interstate 44 . U.S. Highways leading to or through Wichita Falls include 287 , 277 , 281 , and 82 . State Highway 240 ends at Wichita Falls and State Highway 79 runs through it. Wichita Falls has one of the largest freeway mileages for a city of its size as a result of a 1954 bond issue approved by city and county voters to purchase rights-of-way for several expressway routes through

1679-478: The Continental Oil Company (now ConocoPhillips ) until 1952 and Panhandle Oil Company (founded in Wichita Falls, sold to American Petrofina in 1965). Both firms continued to use a portion of their former refineries as gasoline/oil terminal facilities for many years. A devastating tornado hit the northern and northwestern portions of Wichita Falls, along with Sheppard Air Force Base during

1752-752: The People's Republic of China . Xian have existed since the Warring States period and were set up nationwide by the Qin dynasty . The number of counties in China proper gradually increased from dynasty to dynasty. As Qin Shi Huang reorganized the counties after his unification, there were about 1,000. Under the Eastern Han dynasty , the number of counties increased to above 1,000. About 1400 existed when

1825-542: The Sui dynasty abolished the commandery level (郡 jùn), which was the level just above counties, and demoted some commanderies to counties. In Imperial China, the county was a significant administrative unit because it marked the lowest level of the imperial bureaucratic structure; in other words, it was the lowest level that the government reached. Government below the county level was often undertaken through informal non-bureaucratic means, varying between dynasties. The head of

1898-897: The Texas Legislature issued a charter for WFISD. The city has a school for German children, Deutsche Schule Sheppard (DSS). Wichita Falls is home to Midwestern State University , an accredited four-year college in the Texas Tech University System and the only independent liberal arts college in Texas offering both bachelor's and master's degrees . Vernon College is the designated community college for all of Wichita County. A local branch nearby offers two-year degrees, certificate programs, and workforce development programs Wayland Baptist University , offering both bachelor's and master's degrees, has its main branch located in Plainview, Texas . Wichita Falls

1971-557: The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek . The treaty was signed and proclaimed in 1830–1831. As late as 1841, a large Indian settlement was present in the area that is now the city of Wichita Falls. American settlers arrived in the 1860s, mainly as cattle ranchers. The city was named Wichita Falls on September 27, 1876, as the Wichita River runs through the area and a waterfall was in the river's course in 1876. Just 10 years later in 1886,

2044-460: The United States , a county is an administrative or political subdivision of a state that consists of a geographic area with specific boundaries and usually some level of governmental authority. The city, town, or populated place that houses county government is known as the seat of its county. Generally, the county legislature, county courthouse, sheriff's department headquarters, hall of records, jail and correctional facility are located in

2117-849: The Wichita Falls Spudders baseball team (bankrupt 1957) in the Texas League ; the Wichita Falls Wildcats (bankrupt 2017) of the North American Hockey League , an American Tier II junior hockey league; and the Wichita Falls Roughnecks (bankrupt 2008) of the Texas Collegiate League . The Dallas Cowboys held training camp in Wichita Falls during the late 1990s. In 2015, it was acknowledged that

2190-411: The provinces of Ontario , Quebec , New Brunswick , Prince Edward Island , and Nova Scotia have counties as an administrative division of government below the provincial level, and thus county seats. In the provinces of Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia the term "shire town" is used in place of county seat. County seats in China are the administrative centers of the counties in

2263-536: The 258 acres of Weeks Park featuring the Champions Course at Weeks Park, an 18-hole golf course. In addition, an off-leash dog park is within Lake Wichita Park and a skatepark adjacent to the city's softball complex. Also, unpaved trails for off-road biking and hiking are available. Wichita Falls is the home of the annual Hotter'N Hell Hundred , the largest single-day century bicycle ride in

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2336-620: The EF scale wind speeds, but these are biased to United States construction practices. The EF scale also improved damage parameter descriptions. The original scale as derived by Fujita was a theoretical 13-level scale (F0–F12) designed to smoothly connect the Beaufort scale and the Mach number scale. F1 corresponds to the twelfth level of the Beaufort scale, and F12 corresponds to Mach number 1.0. F0

2409-540: The F-scale indicated, particularly for the upper categories. Also, although the scale gave general descriptions of damage a tornado could cause, it gave little leeway for strength of construction and other factors that might cause a building to sustain more damage at lower wind speeds. Fujita tried to address these problems somewhat in 1992 with the Modified Fujita Scale, but by then he was semi-retired and

2482-573: The FW&;DC. This area is now referred to as the Depot Square Historic District , which has been declared a Texas Historic Landmark . The early history of Wichita Falls well into the 20th century also rests on the work of two entrepreneurs, Joseph A. Kemp and his brother-in-law, Frank Kell. Kemp and Kell were pioneers in food processing and retailing, flour milling, railroads, cattle, banking, and oil. Downtown Wichita Falls

2555-402: The Fujita scale is effectively a damage scale, and the wind speeds associated with the damage listed are not rigorously verified. The Enhanced Fujita Scale was formulated due to research that suggested that the wind speeds required to inflict damage by intense tornadoes on the Fujita scale are greatly overestimated. A process of expert elicitation with top engineers and meteorologists resulted in

2628-863: The National Severe Storms Forecast Center/NSSFC (currently the Storm Prediction Center /SPC). The scale was updated in 1973, taking into account path length and width. In the United States, starting in the late 1970s, tornadoes were rated soon after occurrence. The Fujita scale was applied retroactively to tornadoes reported between 1950 and the adoption of the scale in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Tornado Database. Fujita rated tornadoes from 1916 to 1992 and Tom Grazulis of The Tornado Project retroactively rated all known significant tornadoes (F2–F5 or causing

2701-719: The National Weather Service was not in a position to update to an entirely new scale, so it went largely unenacted. In the United States, on February 1, 2007, the Fujita scale was decommissioned in favor of what scientists believe is a more accurate Enhanced Fujita Scale. The meteorologists and engineers who designed the EF Scale believe it improves on the F-scale on many counts. It accounts for different degrees of damage that occur with different types of structures, both manmade and natural. The expanded and refined damage indicators and degrees of damage standardize what

2774-471: The Red River (opened 1964), and Interstate 44 from Old Iowa Park Road to U.S. 287/Spur 325 interchange on the city's north side along with Spur 325 from I-44/U.S. 287 to the main gate of Sheppard Air Force Base (both completed as a single project in 1960). However, cross-country traffic for many years had to contend with several ground-level intersections and traffic lights over Holliday and Broad Streets near

2847-632: The United States and one of the largest races in the world. The race started as a way for the city to celebrate its centennial in 1982. The race takes place over a weekend in August, and multiple events are hosted for people to participate. In 2014, the Wichita Falls Nighthawks , an indoor football team, joined the Indoor Football League but suspended operations after the 2017 season. The city has also been home to

2920-537: The United States; the market also has an average of 120,200 radio listeners ages 12 and over, making it the 250th-largest radio market in the nation. KERA-TV out of Dallas – Fort Worth serves as the default PBS member station for Wichita Falls via a translator station on UHF channel 44. Lucy Park is a 170-acre (69 ha) park with a log cabin, duck pond, swimming pool, playground, frisbee golf course, and picnic areas. It has multiple paved walkways suitable for walking, running, biking, or rollerskating, including

2993-547: The actual wind speeds needed to cause that damage are unknown." Since then, the Enhanced Fujita Scale has been created using better wind estimates by engineers and meteorologists. The six categories are listed here, in order of increasing intensity. In 1973, Allen Pearson added additional path length and path width parameters to the Fujita scale. Under this version, each tornado would be assigned one Fujita scale rating and two Pearson scale ratings. For example,

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3066-491: The afternoon of April 3, 1964 (later referred to as "Black Friday"). As the first violent tornado on record to hit the Wichita Falls area, it left seven dead and more than 100 injured. Additionally, the tornado caused roughly $ 15 million in property damage with about 225 homes destroyed and another 250 damaged. It was rated F5, the highest rating on the Fujita scale , but it is overshadowed by the 1979 tornado. An F4 tornado struck

3139-525: The average window for the latter mark is April 9–October 10. However, 59 to 60 nights of freezing lows occur, and an average of 4.8 days where the high does not rise above freezing. The monthly daily average temperature ranges from 42.0 °F (5.6 °C) in January to 84.4 °F (29.1 °C) in July. The record low temperature is −12 °F (−24 °C) on January 4, 1947. The highest recorded temperature

3212-622: The city and county, the first of which was opened in the year 1958 as an alignment of U.S. 287 from Eighth Street at Broad and Holliday Streets northwestward across the Wichita River and bisecting Lucy and Scotland Parks to the Old Iowa Park Road, the original U.S. 287 alignment. That was followed by other expressway links including U.S. 82–287 east to Henrietta (completed in the year 1968), U.S. 281 south toward Jacksboro (completed 1969), U.S. 287 northwest to Iowa Park and Electra (opened 1962), Interstate 44 north to Burkburnett and

3285-896: The city, as does an active home-school community. Many of the local elementary schools participate in the Head Start program for preschool-aged children. Two schools in the Wichita Falls ISD participate in the International Baccalaureate programs. Hirschi High School offers the IB Diploma Programme , and G.H. Kirby Junior High School for the Middle Years Programme . Other public high schools are Wichita Falls High School and S. H. Rider High School (Wichita Falls ISD) and City View High School (City View ISD). By 1879,

3358-432: The county seat is the entire county. Ellicott City , the county seat of Howard County, Maryland , is the largest unincorporated county seat in the United States, followed by Towson , the county seat of Baltimore County, Maryland . Likewise, some county seats may not be incorporated in their own right, but are located within incorporated municipalities. For example, Cape May Court House, New Jersey , though unincorporated,

3431-491: The county seat, though some functions (such as highway maintenance, which usually requires a large garage for vehicles, along with asphalt and salt storage facilities) may also be located or conducted in other parts of the county, especially if it is geographically large. A county seat is usually an incorporated municipality . The exceptions include the county seats of counties that have no incorporated municipalities within their borders, such as Arlington County, Virginia , where

3504-420: The county. Examples include Harrison County, Mississippi , which has both Biloxi and Gulfport as county seats, and Hinds County, Mississippi , which has both Raymond and the state capital of Jackson . The practice of multiple county seat towns dates from the days when travel was difficult. There have been few efforts to eliminate the two-seat arrangement, since a county seat is a source of civic pride for

3577-447: The damage described at each category. The error manifests itself to an increasing degree as the category increases, especially in the range of F3 through F5. NOAA notes that "precise wind speed numbers are actually guesses and have never been scientifically verified. Different wind speeds may cause similar-looking damage from place to place—even from building to building. Without a thorough engineering analysis of tornado damage in any event,

3650-652: The day all week long. The Wichita Falls Municipal Airport is served by American Eagle , with two flights daily to the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport . The Kickapoo Downtown Airport and the Wichita Valley Airport serve smaller, private planes. Although still in the planning phase, local officials are currently working to potentially bring an Amtrak stop to the city. Wichita Falls last had passenger rail service in 1967. County seat In Canada ,

3723-470: The day the city was named in 1876, a sale of town lots was held at what is now the corner of Seventh and Ohio Streets – the birthplace of the city. The Fort Worth & Denver City Railway arrived in September 1882, the same year the city became the county seat of Wichita County . The city grew westwards from the original FW&DC train depot which was located at the northwest corner of Seventh Street and

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3796-664: The downtown area for about 13 blocks between connecting expressway links until a new elevated freeway running overhead was completed in 2001. Efforts to create an additional freeway along the path of Kell Boulevard for U.S. 82–277 began in 1967 with the acquisition of right-of-way that included a former railroad right-of-way and the first project including construction of the present frontage roads completed in 1977, followed by freeway lanes, overpasses, and on/off ramps in 1989 from just east of Brook Avenue west to Kemp Boulevard; similar projects west from Kemp to Barnett Road in 2001 followed by Barnett Road west past FM 369 in 2010 to tie in which

3869-426: The first school was established. The first public school was a log structure established in the 1880s; in 1885, it was replaced with a former courthouse. Wichita Falls High School opened in 1890. That year, a school district was created, but problems with the law allowing its establishment meant it was dissolved in 1894 and the city provided schooling until the second establishment of a school district in 1900. In 1908,

3942-499: The heavily populated southern sections of Wichita Falls in the late afternoon on Tuesday, April 10, 1979 (known as "Terrible Tuesday"). It was part of an outbreak that produced 30 tornadoes around the region. Despite having nearly an hour's advance warning that severe weather was imminent, 42 people were killed (including 25 in vehicles) and 1,800 were injured because it arrived just as many people were driving home from work. It left 20,000 people homeless and caused $ 400 million in damage,

4015-625: The independent city under an agreement, such as in Albemarle , or may in be enclaves of the county surrounded by the independent city, such as in Fairfax . Others, such as Prince William , have the courthouse in an enclave surrounded by the independent city and have the county government, the Board of Supervisors, in a different part of the county, far from the county seat. The following counties have their county seat in an independent city: Bedford

4088-400: The population. Of the 38,057 households, 30.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 27.4% had seniors 65 years or older living with them, 40.1% were married couples living together, 6.9% were couples cohabitating, 24.0% had a male householder with no partner present, and 29.0% had a female householder with no partner present. The median household size

4161-581: The rating of F6, but both were later downgraded to F5. Based on aerial photographs of the damage it caused, Fujita assigned the strongest tornado of the 1974 Super Outbreak , which affected Xenia, Ohio, a preliminary rating of F6 intensity ± 1 scale. The 1977 Birmingham–Smithfield F5 tornado's damage was surveyed by Ted Fujita and he "toyed with the idea of rating the Smithfield tornado an F6". In 2001, tornado expert Thomas P. Grazulis stated in his book F5–F6 Tornadoes ; "In my opinion, if there ever

4234-777: The state's area, has no borough government or borough seat. One borough, the Lake and Peninsula Borough , has its borough seat located in another borough, namely King Salmon in Bristol Bay Borough . In Louisiana , which is divided into parishes rather than counties, county seats are referred to as "parish seats". In New England , counties have served mainly as dividing lines for the states' judicial systems. Rhode Island has no county level of government and thus no county seats, and Massachusetts has dissolved many but not all of its county governments. In Vermont , Massachusetts , and Maine county government consists only of

4307-486: The sustainability of minor or rookie league sports franchises in the Wichita Falls region had a questionable future. The Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame relocated to Wichita Falls from Amsterdam, New York , in November 2015. The mayor of Wichita Falls is Tim Short, who was elected on November 7, 2023. Mayors are elected on a nonpartisan ballot. The Wichita Falls City Council has six members: The city manager

4380-636: The temperature reached 100 °F or higher, and from May 27 to September 3, the temperature reached 90 °F or higher. In addition, the all-time warm daily minimum of 88 °F (31 °C) was set on July 26, and June, July, and August of that year were all the hottest on record. During the 2015 Texas–Oklahoma floods , Wichita Falls broke its all-time record for the wettest month, with 17.00 inches of rain recorded in May 2015. Notes : As of the 2022 American Community Survey estimates, there were 102,659 people and 38,057 households. The population density

4453-580: The term as hien . When Taiwan became a Japanese colony in 1895, the hierarchy of divisions also incorporated into the Japanese system in the period when Taiwan was under Japanese rule. By September 1945, Taiwan was divided into 8 prefectures ( 州 and 廳 ), which remained after the Republic of China took over. There are 13 county seats in Taiwan, which function as county-administered cities , urban townships , or rural townships . In most of

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4526-417: The top employers in the city are: Wichita Falls' media market also includes the nearby, smaller city of Lawton, Oklahoma . According to Nielsen Media Research estimates for the 2016–17 season, the market – which encompasses 10 counties in western North Texas and six counties in southwestern Oklahoma, has 152,950 households with at least one television set, making it the 148th-largest television market in

4599-416: The towns involved, along with providing employment opportunities. There are 33 counties with multiple county seats in 11 states: Alaska is divided into boroughs rather than counties; the county seat in these case is referred to as the "borough seat"; this includes six consolidated city-borough governments (one of which is styled as a "municipality"). The Unorganized Borough, Alaska , which covers 49% of

4672-544: The use of county seats in particular, will fully transition with the permission of the United States Census Bureau to a system of councils of government for the purposes of boundary definition and as county equivalents. Two counties in South Dakota , Oglala Lakota and Todd , have their county seat and government services centered in a neighboring county. Their county-level services are provided by Fall River County and Tripp County , respectively. In Virginia ,

4745-640: Was $ 31,730. Out of the 90,842 people with a determined poverty status, 15.2% were below the poverty line . Further, 21.4% of minors and 16.3% of seniors were below the poverty line. In the survey, residents self-identified with various ethnic ancestries. People of German descent made up 9.6% of the population of the town, followed by Irish at 6.5%, English at 6.3%, American at 5.1%, Italian at 2.7%, Swedish at 1.9%, Scotch-Irish at 1.1%, Dutch at 1.1%, Sub-Saharan African at 1.0%, Scottish at 0.9%, French at 0.9%, and Norwegian at 0.8%. According to Wichita Falls Chamber of Commerce,

4818-471: Was 1,421.2 inhabitants per square mile (548.7/km). There were 42,641 housing units at an average density of 590.3 per square mile (227.9/km). The racial makeup of the city was 72.1% White, 10.8% Black or African American, 3.6% some other race, 2.8% Asian, 1.0% Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and 0.6% Native American or Alaskan Native, with 9.1% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 22.4% of

4891-450: Was 2.39 and the median family size was 2.98. The age distribution was 22.9% under 18, 13.9% from 18 to 24, 27.0% from 25 to 44, 21.3% from 45 to 64, and 14.9% who were 65 or older. The median age was 34.4 years. For every 100 females, there were 114.6 males. The median income for a household was $ 56,091, with family households having a median income of $ 71,975 and non-family households $ 35,403. The per capita income

4964-475: Was an F6 tornado caught on video, it was the Pampa, Texas tornado of 1995 ". In 2023, it was announced by the Storm Prediction Center and National Weather Service Norman, Oklahoma that the 1970 Lubbock tornado was originally rated F6, which was later downgraded to its official rating of F5. Furthermore, the original wind speed numbers have since been found to be higher than the actual speeds required to incur

5037-449: Was an independent city from 1968 to 2013, while also being the county seat of Bedford County . Bedford reverted to an incorporated town, and remains the county seat, though is now part of the county. The state with the most counties is Texas, with 254, and the state with the fewest counties is Delaware, with 3. Fujita scale The Fujita scale ( F-Scale ; / f u ˈ dʒ iː t ə / ), or Fujita–Pearson scale ( FPP scale ),

5110-553: Was available on damage caused by wind, so the original scale presented little more than educated guesses at wind speed ranges for specific tiers of damage. Fujita intended that only F0–F5 be used in practice, as this covered all possible levels of damage to frame homes as well as the expected estimated bounds of wind speeds. He did, however, add a description for F6, which he called an "inconceivable tornado", to allow for wind speeds exceeding F5 and possible advancements in damage analysis that might show it. In total, two tornadoes received

5183-449: Was named, in 1876, for a waterfall on the Wichita River , which was destroyed due to flooding in 1886. The city is home to the Newby-McMahon Building (otherwise known as the " world's littlest skyscraper "), constructed downtown in 1919 and featured in Robert Ripley 's Ripley's Believe It or Not! . The Choctaw Native Americans settled the area in the early 1800s from their native Mississippi area once Americans displaced them after

5256-410: Was placed at a position specifying no damage (approximately the eighth level of the Beaufort scale), in analogy to how Beaufort's zeroth level specifies little to no wind. From these wind speed numbers, qualitative descriptions of damage were made for each category of the Fujita scale, and then these descriptions were used to classify tornadoes. At the time Fujita derived the scale, little information

5329-505: Was the city's main shopping area for many years. Those shops lost ground to the creation of new shopping centers throughout the city beginning with Parker Square in 1953 and other similar developments during the 1960s and 1970s, culminating with the opening of Sikes Senter Mall in 1974. The city has been seeking funding to rebuild and restore the downtown area since 2010. Wichita Falls was once home to offices of several oil companies and related industries, along with oil refineries operated by

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