Bonham is slightly west of the center of Fannin County in northeastern Texas. U.S. Route 82, a two-lane bypass, crosses the northern part of the city, leading east to Paris and west to Sherman. Texas State Highway 78 passes through the center of Bonham, leading north to the Oklahoma border at the Red River and south to Bailey. Texas State Highway 56, following an old routing of US 82, crosses Highway 78 in the center of Bonham, leading east to Dodd City and west 6 miles to Ector. Texas State Highway 121 leads southwest from Bonham to McKinney. Dallas is to the southwest via McKinney. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Bonham has a total area of, all of it land.
History
One of Texas's oldest cities, Bonham dates to 1837, when Bailey Inglish built a two-story blockhouse named Fort Inglish about from the current downtown. Inglish and other acquaintances settled there in the summer of 1837, and the settlement was named "Bois D'Arc". The Congress of the Republic of Texas named the city Bloomington in 1843, but renamed it Bonham in honor of James Butler Bonham, a defender of the Alamo. On February 2, 1848, Bonham was incorporated as a city. A 1936 statue of Bonham by Texas sculptor Allie Tennant is on the courthouse grounds. After connecting to the Texas and Pacific Railway the city began to grow, and by 1885 there were six churches, three colleges, two public schools, three weekly newspapers, a sawmill, two grain mills, a power plant, and about 2,300 inhabitants. 1890 saw the addition of streetcars, an ice plant, and the opening of the Texas Power and Light Company, the area's utility provider. In 1925 the city was connected to natural gas lines. In 1898, 1911–1914 and 1921–1922, Bonham hosted minor league baseball. The Bonham Boosters and other Bonham teams played as members of the Class D Texas-Oklahoma League and the Independent Southwestern League. Bonham teams featured a different moniker each season. Baseball Hall of Fame member Kid Nichols was Manager of the 1914 Bonham Sliders. During the Second World War, a training camp and an aviation school for the United States Army Air Forces were in the vicinity of Bonham, as was a prisoner-of-war camp for German soldiers. Parts of the camp, approximately 0.5 miles north of US 82, can still be visited today.
Demographics
As of the census of 2010, there were 10,127 people, 2,959 households, and 1,861 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,067.1 people per square mile. There were 2,959 housing units. The racial makeup of the city was 75.4% White, 14.8% African American, 1% Native American,.4% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 6.7% from other races, and 1.8% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 15.4% of the population. There were 2,884 households, out of which 28.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.3% were married couples living together, 15.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37% were non-families. 32.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 32.3% had someone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.4 and the average family size was 3.05. In the city, the population was spread out, with 21% under the age of 19, 9% from 20 to 24, 31% from 25 to 44, 23.5% from 45 to 64, and 15.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. The median income for a household in the city was $27,277, and the median income for a family was $35,721. Males had a median income of $26,035 versus $21,897 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,301. About 22.5% of the population were below the poverty line.
