Tyler, Then and Now
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1960: Annexation

Of 51,230 residents in 1960, 10,893 lived in areas annexed since 1950.

Town and civic· 1960–1990

10,893 of 51,230 residents in 1960 lived in areas annexed since 19502

Tyler City SquareOakwood CemeteryGoodman-LeGrand HouseNear the ordnance plantCamp FordSmith County Jail (1881)St. James C.M.E. ChurchMarvin Methodist ChurchTexas CollegeCarnegie LibraryCotton Belt DepotBergfeld ParkThe 1910 courthouse (site)Black Wall Street (210 E. Erwin)Tyler Junior CollegeLiberty HallPeople’s National Bank BuildingU.S. Post Office and CourthouseBlackstone BuildingTyler Rose GardenLincoln ParkRose StadiumTyler Civic TheatreSmith County Courthouse
What the sources put on the map by 1965, over today’s streets.Under it: USGS map, 1948, the 1:62,500 quadrangle, around Tyler. U.S. Geological Survey 1:62,500-scale Quadrangle for Tyler, TX 1948 courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey.Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

The record

  1. Early 1950s

    By the early 1950s Tyler has issued more than $6 million in building permits, mostly in new subdivisions beyond its prewar neighborhoods, platted near highways on the southwest, west, northwest and southeast edges of town.1

  2. 1955

    National Homes, which the Pollard nomination calls the largest prefabricated home company in the country, opens a plant in north Tyler; about 540 of its houses go up in Tyler and Smith County between 1955 and 1975.1

  3. 1960

    Of Tyler’s 51,230 residents, 10,893 live in areas annexed since 1950. The city’s 1950 area has gained only 1,369 people.2

  4. 1960s

    Most of the land Tyler annexes lies to the south, stretching the city. In the 1960s it annexes stretches of highways 69 and 271, which give the city limits their bug-shaped outline.3

  5. 1940 to 1980

    Tyler adds roughly 28 square miles, mostly along its southern and western edges, according to the Pollard nomination citing The Tyler Loop.1

  6. 1990

    Tyler covers 39.7 square miles of land, with 1,900.5 people per square mile.4

  7. 2011 and 2012

    Tyler annexes Tyler Pounds Regional Airport in 2011 and the UT Health Science Center the next year.3

Notes

  1. National Register nomination, Pollard Residential Historic District (2026) (atlas.thc.texas.gov). Research notes

  2. 1960 Census of Population, Vol. 1, Part 45 Texas, Table 9, 1960 population of areas annexed between 1950 and 1960 (p. 45-42) (www2.census.gov). Research notes

  3. The Tyler Loop (Chris Groskopf), These eight maps show how annexation shaped Tyler, from 1940 to today (June 8, 2017) (thetylerloop.com). Research notes

  4. 1990 Census of Population and Housing, Population and Housing Unit Counts, Texas (CPH-2-45), Table 9 (www2.census.gov). Research notes

About this plate

  • Our sources describe the annexed areas in words, not as lines, so the map draws no city limits.
  • Under the plate, the USGS map, 1948 (the 1:62,500 quadrangle, around Tyler). It is placed by the survey's own coordinates, moved by the mean offset of 6 street crossings that still exist; checked against them, it is off by about 11 m downtown. How the old maps are placed.
  • The faint linework is today’s map, from OpenStreetMap. How the map is made.