Todd Mission

Todd Mission, on Farm Road 1774 and the Missouri Pacific Railroad seven miles south of Plantersville in extreme southeastern Grimes County, was established as a station on the International-Great Northern Railroad in 1900 and named for an official of the road. Mr. Todd constructed a lumber mill in the vicinity of Mill Creek and a spur on which to haul logs from the yard at the rail line to the mill. The first homes in the community were those he built for the families of workers at his mill. E. L. Dyer also established a lumber mill in the area and donated the materials used to build the community's first one-room schoolhouse. By 1910 the town had three lumber mills, a general store, and an estimated population of 100. A post office named Todd operated there from 1901 to 1915. In 1919 a new two-room schoolhouse was erected, and a congregation of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints began to hold services in the building. The school became the Todd mission building, a Latter Day Saints project. The last meeting was held in November 1957. The building has been preserved as a historic site. When the Mormons moved to Navasota, one room of the schoolhouse continued to serve as a church and community center. In 1938 the local school was consolidated with the Plantersville school system. Todd Mission, as it was known after the Mormons moved in, dwindled rapidly after World War I. In 1989 the estimated population was sixty-four; the mail for local farm families was delivered from Navasota. In 1990 the population was fifty-four.