Navasota

City of Navasota, Grimes County, Texas

City of Navasota, Grimes County, Texas

Navasota City Hall in Grimes County, Texas. Photograph by Larry D. Moore.
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Navasota is on a bend of the Navasota River at the intersection of State Highway 105 and Farm roads 3090 and 1227 in southeastern Grimes County. The site was first named Hollandale for Francis Holland, who bought land in the area in 1822. In 1832 a Georgia planter named Daniel Arnold moved to the vicinity. In 1848 James Nolan set up some tents nearby, and by 1852 he had built a log cabin that became a stage stop. The site was a natural crossroads, as it was located near the spot where the La Bahía Road crossed the Navasota River, and about halfway between Anderson and Washington-on-the-Brazos. By the mid-1850s four stage lines had established stops in the vicinity. The settlement name was changed to Navasota (for the river) in 1854, when a post office was established there. After September 1859, when the Houston and Texas Central Railway built into the town, Navasota became even more important as a shipping and marketing center for the surrounding area. Cotton, gunpowder, and guns were stored there during the Civil War. By 1865 the population was about 2,700.

The town, however, suffered a series of disasters in the mid-1860s that severely depleted its population. In 1865 a warehouse filled with cotton and gunpowder exploded after it was torched by disgruntled Confederate veterans; the blast killed a number of people and started a fire that destroyed or damaged many buildings, including the post office. Not long afterward the town was struck by a deadly cholera epidemic, which was followed in 1867 by an even more dangerous epidemic of yellow fever. As many Navasota citizens, including the mayor, fled to escape the disease, the town population dropped by about 50 percent. During the late 1860s the Ku Klux Klan spread into Navasota, and on one occasion a tense confrontation between federal soldiers and a crowd of local White citizens occurred there.

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John Leffler | © TSHA

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Adapted from the official Handbook of Texas, a state encyclopedia developed by Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). It is an authoritative source of trusted historical records.

Belongs to

Navasota is part of or belongs to the following places:

Currently Exists

Yes

Place type

Navasota is classified as a Town

Associated Names

  • (Hollandale)
  • (Nolanville)

Location

Latitude: 30.38828690
Longitude: -96.09006300

Has Post Office

Yes

Is Incorporated

Yes

Population Count, 2021 View more »

8,068