147 articles
San Marcos, Texas
San Marcos, Texas: Hays County seat between Austin and San Antonio, founded 1851 on spring-fed San Marcos River headwaters from the Edwards Aquifer, home of Texas State University, population about 78,000-91,000.
Shawnee, Oklahoma
Shawnee, Oklahoma: county seat of Pottawatomie County, about 35 miles east of Oklahoma City on I-40. Founded in the September 22, 1891 land run; population 31,377 (2020); home to four tribal governments, five casinos, and the International Finals Youth Rodeo.
Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport, Louisiana: parish seat of Caddo Parish on the Red River, founded 1836 and named for Henry Miller Shreve, who cleared the Great Raft. Population 187,593 (2020), declining; economy anchored by Barksdale AFB, Amazon data centers, casinos, and tourism.
Sneedville, Tennessee
Sneedville, Tennessee, county seat of Hancock County, formerly Greasy Rock, named for attorney W. H. Sneed; incorporated 1850, population about 1,364, associated with the Melungeons of Newman's Ridge.
South Padre Island, Texas
South Padre Island, Texas: resort town at the southern tip of Padre Island in Cameron County, between the Gulf of Mexico and Laguna Madre. Incorporated 1973; tourism-driven, over 4 million annual visits, connected by the Queen Isabella Causeway.
Southlake, Texas
Southlake, Texas: affluent Tarrant County suburb northwest of Fort Worth-Dallas, incorporated 1956 near Lake Grapevine, population 31,265 (2020), served by Carroll ISD, median home value about $1 million.
Spring, Texas
Spring, Texas is an unincorporated census-designated place in north Harris County, about 20 miles north of Houston on I-45. Founded as a farming settlement and 1871 railroad town, it had 62,559 residents in 2020 and centers on the Old Town Spring shopping district.
Starkville, Mississippi
Starkville, Mississippi: county seat of Oktibbeha County and home of Mississippi State University. Founded 1834-1835 as renamed Boardtown, population about 25,754 (2025 estimate), college-town economy.
Stephenville, Texas
Stephenville, Texas, county seat of Erath County on the North Bosque River, home of Tarleton State University, known as the Rodeo Cowboy Capital of the World, population 20,897 (2020).
Stillwater, Oklahoma
Stillwater, Oklahoma: Payne County seat and home of Oklahoma State University, settled in the 1889 Land Run; about 50,000 residents, council-manager government, Stillwater Regional Airport.
Sugar Land, Texas
Sugar Land, Texas: Fort Bend County city about 20 miles southwest of Houston, founded as a sugar plantation, incorporated 1959, population 111,026 (2020), former Imperial Sugar company town.
Tahlequah, Oklahoma
Tahlequah, Oklahoma: county seat of Cherokee County and capital of the Cherokee Nation, founded 1839 after the Trail of Tears, incorporated 1843, population 16,209 (2020), home of Northeastern State University.
Temple, Texas
Temple, Texas: Bell County city on the I-35 corridor, founded 1880 as a Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe rail camp named for engineer Bernard Moore Temple; a leading Southwest medical center with 82,073 residents in 2020.
Texarkana, Texas
Texarkana, Texas: Texas-side half of the bi-state twin city on the Texas–Arkansas line in Bowie County, founded 1873–74 as a Texas and Pacific rail town; about 36,000 residents, State Line Avenue division, shared water utilities, airport, and Bi-State Justice Center with Texarkana, Arkansas.
Texas City, Texas
Texas City, Texas: Gulf Coast port city in Galveston County between Galveston and Houston, pop. ~59,700 (2025). Site of the 1947 Grandcamp/High Flyer ammonium nitrate disaster, the deadliest US industrial accident, and a major refining and LPG export complex.
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa, Oklahoma: second-largest Oklahoma city (416,209 est. 2025) on the Arkansas River, an oil-boom 'Oil Capital of the World,' site of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre that destroyed the Greenwood District, now a diversified aerospace, energy, and healthcare economy.
Tupelo, Mississippi
Tupelo, Mississippi: Lee County city of about 38,000 in the Mississippi Hills, birthplace of Elvis Presley, first TVA-electrified city, regional retail and healthcare hub anchored by North Mississippi Medical Center.
Tyler, Texas
Tyler, Texas, also known as Tyler, TX and the Rose Capital of America, is the seat of Smith County in East Texas, with 105,995 residents at the 2020 census.
Uvalde, Texas
Uvalde, Texas: county seat of Uvalde County, 83 miles west of San Antonio; founded as Encina by Reading W. Black in the 1850s and renamed for Juan de Ugalde. Population 15,217 (2020); site of the 2022 Robb Elementary shooting.
Vicksburg, Mississippi
Vicksburg, Mississippi: Warren County river city on Mississippi River bluffs, founded 1811, incorporated 1825. Site of the 47-day 1863 siege; lost its river in 1876, regained it via the 1903 Yazoo diversion canal; Corps district headquarters; 2020 population 21,573.
Victoria, Texas
Victoria, Texas, county seat of Victoria County, founded 1824 by Mexican empresario Martín De León as Guadalupe Victoria, the only predominantly Mexican colony in Texas; now a regional hub of about 66,500 at the crossroads of U.S. Highways 59, 77, and 87.
Vidor, Texas
Vidor, Texas: a city in western Orange County near Beaumont, incorporated 1960, named for lumberman Charles Shelton Vidor. Known for its Miller-Vidor lumber origins, 1993 KKK protests over housing desegregation, and sundown-town reputation; 2020 population 9,789.
Waco
Waco, Texas: county seat of McLennan County on the I-35 corridor, founded 1849 on a Waco Indian village site, home of Baylor University, the 1870 suspension bridge, and the 1953 tornado; population 138,486 (2020).
Waxahachie, Texas
Waxahachie, Texas: county seat of Ellis County on I-35E, 30 miles south of Dallas; founded 1850, cotton and railroad boomtown, Gingerbread City, 1897 Ellis County courthouse, 2020 population 41,140.
Weatherford, Texas
Weatherford, Texas: Parker County seat about 30 miles west of Fort Worth, incorporated 1858, named for Senator Thomas Jefferson Weatherford; 30,854 residents in 2020, Peach Capital of Texas.
White Settlement, Texas
White Settlement is a city of about 18,000 in Tarrant County, Texas, immediately west of Fort Worth. Named for 1850s frontier farms, incorporated 1941, it grew with Carswell Air Force Base and was briefly called Liberator Village.
Wichita Falls, Texas
Wichita Falls, Texas: county seat of Wichita County in north central Texas, founded 1876, railroad and oil boomtown, home of Sheppard Air Force Base; 2020 population 102,316.