Katy Real Estate
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About Katy

Katy is named for the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (commonly referred to as the "K-T Railroad", now a part of Union Pacific) that ran through Katy in the 19th century. Katy was once known as Cane Island. The name is derived from Cane Island Creek which runs just west of downtown. Cane Creek is a branch of Buffalo Bayou. The origins of the name Cane Island are believed to be from the fact that Katy was once a major sugar cane producer and rice producer. It has a festival the second weekend in October to honor and recoginize the former rice producing town.

Katy is home to the Igloo Corporation, an internationally-known manufacturer of cooling and portable refrigeration products. Igloo Corporation consolidated all of their operations in Katy in 2003.

Geography

Katy is located at 29°47?33?N, 95°49?21?W (29.792582, -95.822436)GR1.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 10.7 square miles (27.6 km?).None of the area is covered with water.

Katy Proper (City of Katy) vs. Katy Area

Katy residents often split the city into two informal sections: "Old Katy" (or Katy Proper) and "Katy Area". Old Katy is the actual city limits of Katy and lies mostly north of Interstate 10. This is the original Katy from before the 1970s when Houston's Energy Corridor (and the development that came with it) made its way west on I-10.

The "Katy area" is made up of large sections of unincorporated Harris and Fort Bend counties and mostly sits east and southeast of the city limits of Katy. This area is within the Katy Independent School District and nearly everyone in this area has a Katy postal address.
The Katy area includes new upscale developments and master planned communities such as Cinco Ranch, Wood Creek Reserve, Grayson Lakes, Seven Meadows, Firethorne and Grand Lakes, while also encompassing developments from the 1970s and 1980s such as Memorial Parkway, Kelliwood and Nottingham Country.

All of the "Katy area" lies in the city of Houston's extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ), not Katy's ETJ. This means that the areas of "Katy area" are controlled by the city of Houston and the city has the ability to annex it in the future. The city of Katy cannot annex this area unless the city of Houston releases the area's ETJ to Katy, which has occurred in several small chunks in recent years. The most recent instance of this was in 2001 when Houston ceded about 400 acres (1.6 km?) of ETJ to the City of Katy to allow the Katy Mills Mall and surrounding parking lot to be built entirely within the City of Katy.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 11,775 people in "Old Katy", 3,888 households, and 3,083 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,103.7 people per square mile (426.1/km?). There were 4,072 housing units at an average density of 381.7/sq mi (147.3/km?). The racial makeup of the city was 83.98% White, 4.24% African American, 0.56% Native American, 0.50% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 8.65% from other races, and 2.03% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 23.75% of the population. Also, there is a small Muslim community represented by the Katy Islamic Association. [1][2]
There were 3,888 households out of which 45.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.9% were married couples living together, 10.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.7% were non-families. 17.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.00 and the average family size was 3.37.

In the city the population was spread out with 31.5% under the age of 18, 8.7% from 18 to 24, 30.9% from 25 to 44, 20.7% from 45 to 64, and 8.1% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 98.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.5 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $51,111, and the median income for a family was $57,741. Males had a median income of $38,412 versus $33,004 for females. The per capita income for the city was $21,192. 8.4% of the population and 7.0% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 9.1% were under the age of 18 and 6.5% were 65 or older.

Education

Primary and secondary schools

Public schools

Pupils who live in Katy are zoned to schools in Katy Independent School District.

Three elementary schools, all in the city of Katy, serve Katy residents:

Zelma Hutsell Elementary School

Katy Elementary School

WoodCreek Elementary School

The following middle schools serve City of Katy residents:

Katy Junior High School

Beckendorff Junior High School (in unincorporated Fort Bend County)

All high school aged students in the City of Katy are zoned to Katy High School

Many homes in unincorporated Fort Bend, Harris, or Waller counties which have Katy addresses are served by other schools in Katy ISD.

Colleges and Universities

Katy is served by the Houston Community College System.

Public Libraries

Katy is served by the Katy Branch of Harris County Public Library.

Sports

The Katy Ruff Riders of the Intense Football League play at the Katy ISD's Leonard E. Merrell Center.

The Katy Tigers of Katy High School have won 5 state football titles (1959, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2007) and are widely supported by the local community.

Transportation

Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas (METRO) operates the Kingsland Park and Ride east of Katy at 21669 Kingsland Boulevard.

Greyhound Bus Lines operates the Katy Station at Millers Exxon .

Community Information

The Katy Family YMCA is located in nearby Cinco Ranch in unincorporated Fort Bend County. The YMCA was formerly named after Ken Lay, due to his having given an endowment of over $1 million. Soon after the Enron scandal began, the YMCA, since removing the name was undoable due to the financial help Lay provided, reduced the name, "Ken Lay" to approximately one-fourth the size it was before. In June 2006 Lay asked for his money to be returned in the wake of his legal trouble surrounding the Enron Scandal; consequently his name was removed and the YMCA was renamed the Katy Family YMCA.

Retail centers are springing up all throughout Katy to accommodate the rapid residential growth. The major retail growth is now being focused on the fast growing Katy Fort Bend Rd. near the east entrance to the Katy Mills shopping mall.

Postal service

The United States Postal Service operates the Katy Post Office at 5701 4th Street & the Katy Post Office Annex at 1331 Pin Oak Road, both of which are located in the City of Katy (Katy Proper).

List of mayors

Dan Cox (1971-1979)

John G. Morrison (1979-1983)

Johnny Nelson (1983-1987)

Ward A. Stanberry (1988-1991)

J.W. "Skip" Conner (1991-1995)

M.H. "Hank" Schmidt (1995-2001)

Doyle G. Callender (2001-2007)

Don Elder Jr. (2007-present)

Notable residents

This list includes people both from the City of Katy as well as the Greater Katy area:

Renée Zellweger, Academy Award winning movie actress (Jerry Maguire, Bridget Jones's Diary among others)

Renée O'Connor, TV actress (Xena: Warrior Princess)

Clint Black, country music superstar in the 1990s

Roger Clemens, baseball pitcher and seven time Cy Young Award winner. Lived in Katy for a short time.

Frank Bielec, designer on TV show Trading Spaces

Kimberly Caldwell, finalist on American Idol (Season 2)

Janeane Garofalo, movie actress and radio host on Air America network in addition to stand up comic. Spent high school years in Katy.

Pamela Ribon, author who spent high school years in Katy.

Patrick Greenland, an actor on the TV series Cavemen

Yao Ming, basketball superstar for the Houston Rockets. Has made the Katy area his home while in the United States, although he has an off-season home in Daly City, California.

Eric Heitmann, football player for the San Francisco 49ers

Jake Voskuhl, NBA center for the Charlotte Bobcats

Katy Taylor, Olympian figure-skater

Billy Bob Thornton, actor. Lived in Katy for a brief period.

The members of the band King's X, who reside in Katy. Ty Tabor (member) has a studio in Katy.

Shawn Daivari, Former WWE Wrestler who resides in Katy.