Teague

City of Teague, Freestone County, Texas

City of Teague, Freestone County, Texas

Downton view of the City of Teague, in Freestone County, Texas. Photograph by Larry D. Moore.
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Teague is at the junction of U.S. Highway 84, State Highway 179, and Farm roads 80 and 145, nine miles southwest of Fairfield in western Freestone County. The area was first settled around the time of the Civil War. During the latter half of the nineteenth century a small community known as Brewer, grew up at the site. When the Trinity and Brazos Valley Railway was built through the county in 1906, it located its machine and car shops at the site. The town of Brewer was renamed Teague by railroad magnate Benjamin Franklin Yoakum in honor of his mother Narcissus Teague and her parents James and Jane Fowler Teague, who were early pioneers in Freestone County. The town incorporated in 1906. The community served as a shipping center for area cotton farmers and grew rapidly. By 1914 it had Baptist, Catholic, Disciples of Christ, Methodist, Episcopal, Methodist Episcopal, and Presbyterian churches, as well as public schools, waterworks, an electric light plant, an ice plant, three banks, two cotton gins, a cottonseed oil mill, a cotton compress, the Teague Daily News, two weekly newspapers, and a population of 3,300. Teague continued to prosper during the 1920s.

The onset of the Great Depression and plummeting cotton prices, however, began a slow decline that continued until the 1980s. The number of businesses dropped from 140 in 1931 to 100 in 1936. After World War II many other stores and businesses closed, and by the early 1980s only forty-six rated businesses remained. The town also witnessed a decline in population during the same period; it reached a low of some 2,800 in 1975. After the mid-1980s, however, the population grew steadily, and in 1990 Teague had 3,268 residents. The population was 4,557 in 2000. The area has large coal, lignite, sand, and clay deposits. In recent years natural gas production has become an important industry.

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Christopher Long | © TSHA

Handbook of Texas Logo

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

Teague is part of or belongs to the following places:

Currently Exists

Yes

Place type

Teague is classified as a Town

Associated Names

  • (Brewer)
  • (Carley)

Location

Latitude: 31.62936250
Longitude: -96.28159500

Has Post Office

Yes

Is Incorporated

Yes

Population Count, 2021 View more »

3,447