Westlake is a town in Denton and Tarrant Counties in the U.S. state of Texas and an upscale suburb of Fort Worth. The population is 702 as of the 2010 United States Census.

History

The area known as Westlake was originally settled in 1847 by Charles and Matilda Medlin with about 20 other families. In the mid-twentieth century, what is now Westlake was known as Circle T Ranch. Despite its name, Westlake is actually located south of Lake Grapevine. When incorporated in the late 1950s, the name Southlake, Texas already existed, so ranchers and homeowners took the name Westlake.

During the late 1990s, the City Council attempted to disband the city. The large Solana development was annexed by Southlake, while several large tracts of land were annexed by Fort Worth, Texas. A local district judge ruled the annexations in violation of state law, and the properties returned under Westlake jurisdiction.

In 2000, the radio program This American Life featured a story about the battle to disband the town in the face of development by Ross Perot, Jr..

Westlake is known, among other things, for having by far the highest per-capita revenue from traffic tickets of any town in Texas.

Geography

Westlake is located at 32°58′57″N 97°12′20″W (32.982584, -97.205670).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 6.7 square miles (17.3 km²), of which, 6.6 square miles (17.1 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.2 km²) of it (1.35%) is water.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 207 people, 84 households, and 69 families residing in the town. Current population estimates are between 800 and 1000, after several years of growth in two master-planned residential subdivisions. The population density was 31.4 people per square mile (12.1/km²). There were 87 housing units at an average density of 13.2 per square mile (5.1/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 95.17% White, 2.42% African American, 2.42% from other races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.97% of the population.

There were 84 households out of which 23.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 78.6% were married couples living together, 3.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 16.7% were non-families. 14.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.46 and the average family size was 2.71.

In the town the population was spread out with 21.3% under the age of 18, 2.9% from 18 to 24, 21.3% from 25 to 44, 43.0% from 45 to 64, and 11.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 47 years. For every 100 females there were 95.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.0 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $128,375, and the median income for a family was $150,000. Males had a median income of $72,250 versus $41,042 for females. The per capita income for the town was $59,206. About 2.9% of families and 2.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including none of those under the age of eighteen and 7.7% of those sixty five or over.

Economy

When the company PrimeCo first began, it had its headquarters in Westlake. In 1999 the parties splitting PrimeCo agreed that the former headquarters would become the headquarters of the PrimeCo operations taken over by Vodafone AirTouch.

Education

The town is served by three independent school districts, Northwest Independent School District, Keller Independent School District, and Carroll Independent School District. Westlake residents may also enroll their children in Westlake Academy, an open enrollment state charter school.

The eastern portion of the town is served by Carroll ISD (Exemplary):

• Walnut Grove Elementary School, Exemplary
• Durham Intermediate School, Exemplary
• Carroll Middle School, Exemplary and National Blue Ribbon School
• Carroll High School, Exemplary and National Blue Ribbon School
• Carroll Senior High School, Exemplary

The western portion of the town is served by Keller ISD (Recognized):

• Florence Elementary School, Exemplary and National Blue Ribbon School
• Bear Creek Intermediate School, Exemplary
• Keller Middle School, Exemplary
• Keller High School, Recognized

The northern portion of the town is served by Northwest ISD, however there are no residences in this part of town.

Notable residents

Pop band Jonas Brothers have a Westlake home, in the luxury neighborhood of Vaquero Ranch with their parents and younger brother, Frankie. Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers has a home in Westlake, as well as Chuck Greenberg, the brief and former owner of the Texas Rangers. Other residents include Sean Payton, Mark Teixeira, Vernon Wells, professional golfers Choi Kyung-Ju and Ben Crane, Terry Bradshaw, the former chief of Exxon, Lee Raymond, former FOX News Host and Radio Commentator Glenn Beck, and Matthew K. Rose. Former NFL Corner Back Ray Mickens.

Information courtesy of Wikipedia