Augusta, Texas

Unincorporated community in Texas, United States

31°31′54″N 95°19′51″W / 31.53167°N 95.33083°W / 31.53167; -95.33083CountryUnited StatesStateTexasCountyHoustonElevation

374 ft (114 m)Time zoneUTC-6 (Central (CST)) • Summer (DST)UTC-5 (CDT)Area code(s)430 & 903GNIS feature ID1384223^[1]

Augusta is an unincorporated community in Houston County, Texas, United States.^[1] According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had a population of 20 in 2000.

History

According to legend, the town was named after Augusta Smith, a pioneer settler's daughter. In 1821, Daniel McLean, a member of the Gutiérrez-Magee Expedition, built what is considered to be the region's first house. The Kyle and Aldrich families, Col. W. W. Davis, and G. W. Wilson, on whose headright the townsite was situated, were among the other early migrants. Augusta served as a commerce hub for nearby plantations before the American Civil War. The community of Augusta had a Union church, steam cotton gins, grist and maize mills, three general stores, and 200 residents by the time a post office was established there in 1882. The town thrived up until the 1940s despite the post office's eventual closure. Augusta had 250 persons and three enterprises as of 1936, but by the 1940s, only 120 people were living there, and by 1952, there were only 20. A community center and cemetery were still there in 1990, and in 2000, the population was still stated as 20.^[2]

On October 18, 1838, the community was the scene of a massacre. Four historical markers stand at the site of the massacre, which took the lives of early settlers and Native Americans.^[3]

Geography

Augusta is located on Farm to Market Road 227, 16 mi (26 km) northeast of Crockett in northeastern Houston County.^[2]

Education

W.M. Waddell was the teacher at the Augusta Male and Female Academy in 1860. The community had a school in 1885.^[2] Local students (if any) go to school in the Grapeland ISD.

In popular culture

Augusta was featured in the Scott Nixon home movie The Augustas.^[4]

References

^ ^a ^b U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Augusta, Texas
^ ^a ^b ^c Augusta, TX from the Handbook of Texas Online
^ "Augusta, Texas". Texas Escapes Online Magazine. Retrieved June 27, 2023.
^ Cooley, Heidi Rae (2014). Finding Augusta: Habits of Mobility and Governance in the Digital Era. Dartmouth College Press. doi:10.1349/ddlp.3556. ISBN 978-1-61168-523-7.