Editing Wharton, Texas (section)

==History==
The area now known as Wharton was part of the Caney Run mail route established in 1838 by the [[Republic of Texas]]. The community was named after two leaders in the Anglo-American struggle for Texas independence, brothers [[John Austin Wharton (1806-1838)|John]] and [[William H. Wharton|William Wharton]]. What developed as a  [[Plantations in the American South|plantation]] community along the Colorado River was first settled in 1846 by some of [[Stephen F. Austin]]'s original colonists. A post office was established the next year.

The first [[Lieutenant governor (United States)|lieutenant governor]] of Texas, Albert Horton, was an early settler. Land for the courthouse square was donated by William Kincheloe and surveyed by Virgil Stewart and William J. E. Heard. Early settlers came from across the South: Alabama, Kentucky, Virginia, Georgia, and Mississippi.

European Jewish immigrants, arriving as early as the 1850s from Germany, established additional businesses and began the [[Congregation Shearith Israel (Texas)|Congregation Shearith Israel]], the only synagogue in a three-county area.<ref>[http://www.isjl.org/history/archive/index.html Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish Communities], [http://www.isjl.org/history/archive/tx/wharton.html "Wharton, Texas"]</ref> Other settlers in the community included Swiss, German, Mexican, and Czech immigrants and, after the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] and emancipation, descendants of plantation slaves.

The area was first developed for agriculture, and planters used enslaved African Americans for labor before the Civil War. Early crops included [[potato]]es, [[cotton]], [[Maize|corn]], [[rice]], and [[sugarcane]], and commercial enterprises included [[cattle]], [[molasses]], and sugar. At different times, the community had a cottonseed oil mill, a sugarcane factory, gristmills, cotton gins, a [[milk]]-processing plant and dairy, an ice plant, and numerous other industries. Oil and sulfur production in the outlying areas contributes to the town's economy. The population of Wharton was approximately 200 in the early 1880s.

In 1881, the New York, Texas and Mexican Railway was the first railroad to reach Wharton. More than a decade later, the [[Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway|Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe]] was constructed to the town in 1899. These two railroads carried new settlers and stimulated businesses, increasing the population to 1,689 in 1900 and 2,346 in 1920. In 1888, the first opera house opened.

When Wharton was incorporated in 1902, most of the structures were of wood construction. A major fire on December 30 of that year destroyed a number of frame business buildings.<ref>{{cite news |title=BUSINESS BLOCK IS DESTROYED BY FIRE |url= https://www.gendisasters.com/texas/5467/wharton,-tx-fire,-dec-1902|newspaper=The Daily Express, San Antonio, Texas |date= December 31, 1902|access-date=10 November 2012}}</ref>  Afterward, businessmen and the city government were convinced to use brick construction with fire walls for all buildings within the city limits and to construct a water system with fire hydrants.

A free library was established in 1902 by the New Century Club and adopted by the city in 1904. In 1935, the majority of the library inventory was given to the Wharton Public School. The first public park was dedicated in 1913, and the Wharton [[Chamber of Commerce]] organized in 1919.

The city had its greatest growth during the 1930s, despite the [[Great Depression]], with the population increasing from 2,261 in 1930 to 4,386 in 1940. Wharton Little Theatre was organized in 1932, and [[Wharton County Junior College]] was established in 1946.

The town's population reached 5,734 in 1960 and 7,881 in 1970. A community concert series was developed in the 1960s. By the 1980s, Wharton had such diverse industries as Health-focus, the largest physical rehabilitation and therapy service in the nation; M. I. Drilling Fluids, a subsidiary of Magcobar Division of Dresser Industries; the Formosa Plastics Group, consisting of Nan Ya Plastics and J-M Manufacturing; Coastal Warehouse Limited, serving the agricultural industry; and Gulf Coast Medical Center and South Texas Medical clinics. The economy was also dependent on the county government of this seat.

In the 1980s, [[Horton Foote]], an Academy Award-winning screenwriter and a descendant of Lieutenant Governor Horton, who was born and raised in Wharton, moved back and lived in Wharton. The Wharton County Historical Museum features exhibits on notable residents - broadcast journalist [[Dan Rather]] and [[Medal of Honor]]-recipient [[Roy Benavidez]], as well as a wildlife collection. The Wharton population was stable at the end of the 20th century: 9,033 in 1980, 9,011 in 1990, and 9,237 in 2000. The 2010 census reported a decrease to 8,832.<ref>[https://archive.today/20200212202119/http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_SF1/P1/1600000US4878136 U.S. Census]</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="150px">
File:Downtown Wharton, TX IMG 1031.JPG|Downtown Wharton
File:Plaza Theater in Wharton, TX IMG 1029.JPG|Plaza Theater
File:Texas and New Orleans Railroad Depot 2015.jpg|Historic railroad depot
File:Wharton TX Monument CSA.JPG|Confederate monument
</gallery>