Currently known as the "Wildflower Capital of Texas," Temple was originally founded in 1881 as a railroad town. It was named in honor of Bernard Moore Temple, civil engineer and former surveyor with the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway Company that established the town. For many years it was the home of the Santa Fe Railway Company's hospital for its employees. Temple is known for its strength as a regional medical center (this is primarily due to the highly respected Scott & White Memorial Hospital). Scott & White is the the largest employer in town with about 10,000 employees. With Scott & White, the Veteran's Hospital Center, and other smaller clinics, Temple is home to more physicians per capita than any other community in the nation. Temple is the site of one of two major campuses for the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine. Medical students can elect to spend all four years of their medical education training or their two years of clinical training on the campus.
Besides health services, Temple is home to many regional distribution centers and headquarters to two large, multi-national companies, Wilsonart International and McLane Company. The Temple Daily Telegram is the daily newspaper.
As of the census of 2000, there were 54,514 people, 21,543 households, and 14,110 families residing in the city. The population density was 834.2 people per square mile (322.1/km²). There were 23,511 housing units at an average density of 359.8/sq mi (138.9/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 69.76% White, 16.49% African American, 0.51% Native American, 1.53% Asian, 0.09% Pacific Islander, 9.23% from other races, and 2.39% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 17.82% of the population.
There were 21,543 households out of which 32.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.4% were married couples living together, 13.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.5% were non-families. 29.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 3.04.
In the city the population was spread out with 26.3% under the age of 18, 9.2% from 18 to 24, 28.6% from 25 to 44, 20.0% from 45 to 64, and 15.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 91.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.2 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $35,135, and the median income for a family was $42,795. Males had a median income of $30,858 versus $22,113 for females. The per capita income for the city was $19,360. About 10.8% of families and 13.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 20.0% of those under age 18 and 9.8% of those age 65 or over.
Temple was founded as a railroad junction, and serves as a major freight railroad hub to this day. Both the Union Pacific Railroad and BNSF Railway have mainlines serving the city, and a BNSF rail yard and locomotive maintenance facility are located here. Amtrak also serves the city with its Texas Eagle passenger train, which calls at Temple (Amtrak station).
Temple does not have commercial airline service, but is served indirectly by these airports: