Red Lick wants its own control

“The City of Red Lick was incorporated in August of 1997 in an effort to maintain local control over the issues that we face.  As of the 2010 U.S. Census, we had 1008 residents.  Our population is made up of families that have been here for several generations and also new families that have moved here because Red Lick fits their needs.  We are a residential community with a great school that consistently performs with the highest of marks.  We are serviced by an all-volunteer fire department that trains hard and has dedicated leadership and excellent response times.  The Council has managed to keep the tax rate as one of the lowest in the County.”

http://www.cityofredlicktx.com/

Red Lick is in Bowie County Texas, which is up in the northeast corner of the state. One story attributes the town’s name to observations of deer licking the red clay that is the dominant soil makeup in the area.

Demographics from federal census show the population breakdown of 94 percent White, and 3 percent African American. Other races each make up less than 1 percent of the population. For every 100 women age 18 and older, there are 88 men.

Median family income is $60,313. About 4 percent of families and the same percentage of the overall population lives below the federally-determined poverty line.

The Handbook of Texas Online says:

 Red Lick is a small town located off Farm Road 2148 about seven miles west of Texarkana in northeastern Bowie County. The community began in the 1860s and was named by residents who observed that a nearby red clay hill served as a salt lick for area deer. By the late 1800s social life centered around the Red Lick Methodist Episcopal Church, South, founded in 1885. The Bob Bonner family donated land for the wooden structure that also functioned as a lodge hall and school. Eventually a cemetery was located on an adjacent tract to the north. Church records in the early 1890s listed seventy names, and in 1906 church trustees included members of the Hargis, Earnest, Edwards, Medley, and White families. In 1909 a fire destroyed the church, but the congregation constructed another two-story building on that site. That structure suffered heavy damage in June 1935 when a tornado hit the community. Red Lick maintained its country school throughout the decades just prior to and after World War II. Farm Road 2148 was built through the area in the 1950s. In 1968 the church name was changed to Red Lick United Methodist Church. No population figures were available for Red Lick throughout most of the twentieth century until 1990, when the village had an estimated 448 residents. The Methodist church received a historical marker in 1992. Residents, concerned over the encroachment of nearby Texarkana, voted to incorporate Red Lick in 1997, and in 2000 the town had a mayor and council and a volunteer fire department. The population was 853.

https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hlr53