Beatrice Geography
Beatrice is located at 40°16'6" North, 96°44'35" West (40.268449, -96.743192).According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 19.4 km2 (7.5 mi2). 19.4 km2 (7.5 mi2) of it is land and none of it is covered by water.
Beatrice Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there are 12,496 people, 5,395 households, and 3,301 families residing in the city. The population density is 643.3/km2 (1,666.7/mi2). There are 5,818 housing units at an average density of 299.5/km2 (776.0/mi2). The racial makeup of the city is 97.50% White, 0.34% African American, 0.45% Native American, 0.33% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.30% from other races, and 1.05% from two or more races. 0.96% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.There are 5,395 households out of which 28.2% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.8% are married couples living together, 8.7% have a female householder with no husband present, and 38.8% are non-families. 33.9% of all households are made up of individuals and 17.7% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.24 and the average family size is 2.87.
In the city the population is spread out with 23.4% under the age of 18, 8.4% from 18 to 24, 25.5% from 25 to 44, 21.4% from 45 to 64, and 21.3% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 40 years. For every 100 females there are 89.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 84.7 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $33,735, and the median income for a family is $42,472. Males have a median income of $29,976 versus $21,303 for females. The per capita income for the city is $17,816. 9.5% of the population and 7.0% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 10.0% of those under the age of 18 and 8.9% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
Trivia
The West Side Baptist Church in Beatrice is the origin of what, on the surface, appears to be a well-told urban legend; however, the story has been confirmed to be accurate.At 7:25 PM on Wednesday, March 1, 1950, the church building exploded in what was believed to be a natural gas explosion. This should have resulted in serious injury and/or fatality to the 15 members of the church choir, who normally met at 7:20 PM for practice.
However, by some fortuitous coincidence (one would believe "divine intervention", since it was a church), every one of the 15 members were late for one reason or another, as summarized below:
- The pastor (who actually lit the furnace that exploded, but had returned home), and his wife and daughter were late, as the daughter's dress was soiled and the wife was ironing another.
- One choir member, a high-school sophomore, was late due to problems with her geometry homework.
- Two members, sisters, were late as their car would not start, and their alternate ride was the member with the geometry problem.
- Another member and her daughter were late as she had to attend to matters at her mother's house before arriving.
- Yet another member was working on an important letter.
- One member waited until the last possible minute before leaving, due to the cold weather.
- Another member, taking care of his two sons, was delayed and did not realize until the last minute he was late.
- The pianist had planned to arrive 30 minutes early, but fell asleep after dinner, which caused her and her mother (the choir director) to be late.
- Finally, two other members, high-school students, were late as one wanted to catch the end of a radio program, and the other waited for her as they customarily went together to practice.
External links
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Beatrice,_Nebraska".