As late as 1841, a large Indian settlement was present in the area that is now the city of Wichita Falls.

[15] The early history of Wichita Falls well into the 20th century also rests on the work of two entrepreneurs, Joseph A. Kemp[16] and his brother-in-law, Frank Kell.

Kemp and Kell were pioneers in food processing and retailing, flour milling, railroads, cattle, banking, and oil.

[citation needed] Downtown Wichita Falls was the city's main shopping area for many years.

A devastating tornado hit the northern and northwestern portions of Wichita Falls, along with Sheppard Air Force Base during the afternoon of April 3, 1964 (later referred to as "Black Friday").

As the first violent tornado on record to hit the Wichita Falls area,[19] it left seven dead and more than 100 injured.

Snowfall is sporadic and averages 4.1 in (10 cm) per season, while rainfall is typically greatest in early summer.

People of German descent made up 9.6% of the population of the town, followed by Irish at 6.5%, English at 6.3%, American at 5.1%, Italian at 2.7%, Swedish at 1.9%, Scotch-Irish at 1.1%, Dutch at 1.1%, Sub-Saharan African at 1.0%, Scottish at 0.9%, French at 0.9%, and Norwegian at 0.8%.

It has multiple paved walkways suitable for walking, running, biking, or rollerskating, including a river walk that goes to a man-made waterfall feature in lieu of the original falls for which the city was named (the original falls, located in the river, were destroyed in a 19th-century flood; the new waterfall attraction, located in the park and discharging into the river, were built in response to numerous tourist requests to visit the "Wichita Falls").

Started in 1987 and completed in 2025, the trail takes riders through several of the city parks and across a wide range of environments.

The race takes place over a weekend in August, and multiple events are hosted for people to participate.

The city has also been home to a number of semiprofessional, developmental, and minor league sports teams, including the Wichita Falls Drillers (bankrupt 2002), a semipro football team that won numerous league titles and a national championship; the professional basketball team Wichita Falls Texans (relocated 1994, bankrupt 1996) of the Continental Basketball Association; Wichita Falls Fever (bankrupt 1992) in the Lone Star Soccer Alliance; the Wichita Falls Spudders baseball team (bankrupt 1957) in the Texas League; the Wichita Falls Wildcats (bankrupt 2017) of the North American Hockey League, an American Tier II junior hockey league; and the Wichita Falls Roughnecks (bankrupt 2008) of the Texas Collegiate League.

[citation needed] The Dallas Cowboys held training camp in Wichita Falls during the late 1990s.

[citation needed] In 2015, it was acknowledged that the sustainability of minor or rookie league sports franchises in the Wichita Falls region had a questionable future.

The Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame relocated to Wichita Falls from Amsterdam, New York, in November 2015 and closed in 2022.

Craig Estes, a Republican, had held the senate seat since 2001, until Pat Fallon won election in 2018.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice James V. Allred Unit is located in Wichita Falls, 4 mi (6.4 km) northwest of downtown.

The prison is named for former Governor James V. Allred, a Democrat and a native of Bowie, Texas, who lived early in his career in Wichita Falls.

[58] Wichita Falls is home to Midwestern State University, an accredited four-year college in the Texas Tech University System and the only independent liberal arts college in Texas offering both bachelor's and master's degrees.

[60] A local branch nearby offers two-year degrees, certificate programs, and workforce development programs Wayland Baptist University, offering both bachelor's and master's degrees, has its main branch located in Plainview, Texas.

Wichita Falls has one of the largest freeway mileages for a city of its size[citation needed] as a result of a 1954 bond issue approved by city and county voters to purchase rights-of-way for several expressway routes through the city and county, the first of which was opened in the year 1958 as an alignment of U.S. 287 from Eighth Street at Broad and Holliday Streets northwestward across the Wichita River and bisecting Lucy and Scotland Parks to the Old Iowa Park Road, the original U.S. 287 alignment.

[citation needed] That was followed by other expressway links including U.S. 82–287 east to Henrietta (completed in the year 1968), U.S. 281 south toward Jacksboro (completed 1969), U.S. 287 northwest to Iowa Park and Electra (opened 1962), Interstate 44 north to Burkburnett and the Red River (opened 1964), and Interstate 44 from Old Iowa Park Road to U.S. 287/Spur 325 interchange on the city's north side along with Spur 325 from I-44/U.S.

However, cross-country traffic for many years had to contend with several ground-level intersections and traffic lights over Holliday and Broad Streets near the downtown area for about 13 blocks between connecting expressway links until a new elevated freeway running overhead was completed in 2001.

[citation needed] Efforts to create an additional freeway along the path of Kell Boulevard for U.S. 82–277 began in 1967 with the acquisition of right-of-way that included a former railroad right-of-way and the first project including construction of the present frontage roads completed in 1977, followed by freeway lanes, overpasses, and on/off ramps in 1989 from just east of Brook Avenue west to Kemp Boulevard; similar projects west from Kemp to Barnett Road in 2001 followed by Barnett Road west past FM 369 in 2010 to tie in which a project now underway to transform U.S. 277 into a continuous four-lane expressway between Wichita Falls and Abilene.

[63] Skylark Van Service shuttles passengers to and from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on several runs during the day all week long.

Although still in the planning phase, local officials are currently working to potentially bring an Amtrak stop to the city.