Celina, Texas

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Celina (pronounced suh-LYE-nuh) is a town in Collin County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,861 at the 2000 census.

1 Geography
2 Growth
3 Education
4 Demographics
5 External links

[edit] Geography

Celina is located at 33°19′11″N, 96°46′58″W (33.319846, -96.782799)^GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 4.4 km² (1.7 mi²), all land.

Running north/south through the town is State Highway 289 (locally known as Preston Road). It starts near downtown Dallas and terminates near Sherman. Celina is located about equidistant between downtown Dallas and the Oklahoma border.

Being mostly farm and ranch land, the terrain is largely open fields on flat-to-gently-rolling terrain. The ambient air temperature is typically 4 to 6 °F cooler than Dallas 30 miles south.

[edit] Growth

As of March, 2005, Celina is undergoing rapid growth. Having never before had any kind of retail chain other than 2 fuel stations and a small Chevrolet dealership, Celina saw a Sonic restaurant completed in 2003. Then, on October 5, 2005, Brookshires Grocery broke ground for construction of a new store, where for 18 months prior only a sign had stood announcing the "future home" in the cow pasture at the corner of Preston Road and County Road 91. Since 1999, much of the country land has tripled in price.

With the continuous building of middle and upper scale homes in Celina and the nearby towns of Prosper (south of Celina) and Gunter (north of Celina), the volume of traffic has increased dramatically. Between January 2004 and July 2005, the rush hour commute on SH 289 from Celina to State Highway 121 in Frisco has lengthened from approximately 22 minutes to almost 50. Construction on 289 is and has been performed to widen some bridges and shoulders for the sake of safety and future expansion. However, nothing is currently being done to alleviate traffic congestion. In fact, from January 2004 until the time of this writing in 10/2005, the number of traffic lights between Celina and Frisco has grown from zero to 4. Though none of those lights have actually been in Celina itself, the Brookshires store is expected to bring the first.

One well-known Celina resident is Punk Carter, a long-time horse breeder whose clients include Leanne Rimes, Michael Keaton, and Christie Brinkley. In fact, Carter recently sold a large tract of land on Preston Road that is being developed at Carter Ranch Estates. New homes are being built very quickly in Celina, as well as in Prosper which is about 4 miles south on Preston Road.

[edit] Education

The Town of Celina is served by the Celina Independent School District.

The Celina Bobcats, of Celina High School, are known for frequently winning the state championships in football; having won seven in their history (which ties for tops among all Texas programs playing 11-man football in any classification) including the 2005 championship. Celina also holds the Texas high school record for consecutive games won at 68 from 1998-2001 including four championships in a row.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 1,861 people, 644 households, and 484 families residing in the town. The population density was 425.2/km² (1,104.0/mi²). There were 703 housing units at an average density of 160.6/km² (417.0/mi²). The racial makeup of the town was 77.38% White, 9.19% African American, 0.27% Native American, 0.11% Asian, 11.34% from other races, and 1.72% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 22.73% of the population.

There were 644 households out of which 39.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.6% were married couples living together, 14.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.8% were non-families. 21.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.84 and the average family size was 3.28.

In the town the population was spread out with 30.0% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 30.0% from 25 to 44, 18.2% from 45 to 64, and 12.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 101.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.9 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $37,383, and the median income for a family was $41,131. Males had a median income of $32,000 versus $29,135 for females. The per capita income for the town was $17,499. About 10.7% of families and 13.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.3% of those under age 18 and 4.9% of those age 65 or over.