A post office at the home of S.J. Blythe occupied the area known as Blythe, Texas. In 1917 the Santa Fe railroad moved into the vicinity, but the rail company ran into a problem. Santa Fe already had one town by the name located in Blythe, California. The company decided to change the name of this new location to honor Charles L. Seagraves, an employee who worked as a traveling agent and was favored by local residents. The Spearman Land Company building was the first building to be erected, and the Higginbotham Bartlett Lumber Company followed shortly thereafter. Seagraves grew rapidly as a town, and in 1928 suffered a fire that burned a major portion of the business section. The only building left standing was the Seagraves Motor Company, which led to the rebuilding of modern brick buildings, many of which remain today.
Geography
Seagraves is located at. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of, all of it land.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, 2,334 people, 812 households, and 616 families resided in the city. The population density was 1,609.8 people per square mile. The 977 housing units had an average density of 673.9/sq mi. The racial makeup of the city was 66.80% White, 6.08% African American, 0.73% Native American, 0.04% Asian, 23.31% from other races, and 3.04% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 55.91% of the population. Of 812 households, 39.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.7% were married couplesliving together, 10.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.1% were not families. About 22.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.87 and the average family size was 3.40. In the city, the population was distributed as 32.8% under the age of 18, 8.7% from 18 to 24, 25.4% from 25 to 44, 20.2% from 45 to 64, and 12.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.0 males. The median income for a household in the city was $26,929, and for a family was $30,707. Males had a median income of $27,944 versus $16,181 for females. The per capita income for the city was $12,253. About 22.3% of families and 25.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 31.8% of those under age 18 and 22.0% of those age 65 or over.
