The History of Navasota

Pioneer Settlement

In 1822, Francis Holland purchased land located on a bend of the Navasota River in southeastern Grimes County. The site of present day Navasota was named Hollandale in honor of its original settler. More settlers followed Holland to the area. In 1831, Daniel Arnold, a Georgia planter, applied for and received a land grant along the Navasota River. Soon after, Daniel Tyler received a land grant in the same vicinity. Navasota was built on sections of these two Montgomery County land grants. The county was divided in 1846, and Navasota became part of Grimes County.

James Nolan, another important figure, moved to the area from Mississippi in 1848. Nolan did not have a land grant, so he chose a suitable place to live and “squatted” on the land. In 1855, he was financially able to begin to purchase the surrounding property. He built his first home at the back of the land that later became the first stage stop in the region. The stage stop was ideally located at the crossroads between Anderson and Washington-On-The-Brazos, in close proximity to the crossing of La Bahia Trail and the Navasota River. Growth in the area began quickly, and four more stage lines were established in the area by the mid 1850’s. In 1854, the settlement changed its name from Hollandale to Navasota when a post office was established.

Due to the ideal location of the stage stop, Nolan deeded the property to the Houston and Texas Central (H&TC) Railroad in 1859. The settlement’s population increased significantly, making it one of the more prominent shipping and marketing centers in the area. Timber, agriculture products, and livestock were constantly being driven to Navasota for shipment across Texas. However, a set of disasters during the mid 1860’s caused the City to lose much of its population.

Civil War Era

During the Civil War, the population and business in Navasota decreased as able men left the City to fight in the war. In 1862, the first telegraph lines in the area were strung through Navasota to benefit the railroad and the Confederate government. Due to the City’s important location, the Confederate Army stored cotton, gunpowder, and guns in a downtown warehouse during the war. Disgruntled Confederate veterans set fire to the warehouse in 1865, exploding the building and damaging or destroying the surrounding commercial district of Navasota.

Post Civil War

Navasota residents were hit with a harsh cholera outbreak in 1866. In the midst of this turmoil, Navasota was incorporated on October 27, 1866; 10 years before the Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College was founded and 6 years before the City of Bryan was incorporated. The City boundaries extended one mile in every direction from the train depot. William E. Jones was then elected the first mayor of Navasota. The following year an even more deadly epidemic of yellow fever spread across the area. Many of the residents including Mayor Jones fled the City to avoid the disease, which resulted in a decrease of the population by half. The events of 1867 left the City’s government in turmoil until 1868 when the panic was over and the City began to rebuild.

Turn of the Century

By 1880, Navasota had one of the first cottonseed oil mills built in Texas. Besides the mill, the City was also prosperous with two flourmills, several steam-powered cotton gins, five churches, a bank, a newspaper, and an opera house. By the end of 1884, Navasota’s population reached 2,500. A year later, a telephone company began operating in Navasota and the City acquired a second railroad connection. Electric lights and a water system also appeared in Navasota in the late 1880’s, and by 1896 the City’s population had grown to 3,500. A third railroad, the International-Great Northern (I&GN) was built through Navasota in 1900, heading from the City of Spring to Fort Worth. The new railroad helped to further the City’s prosperity in the shipping and marketing of livestock, lumber, and agricultural products. In 1902, another I&GN line was built to travel from Navasota to Madisonville. These prosperous times caused the population to increase to 5,128 by 1930. Navasota further benefited in the 1930’s, when major thoroughfares throughout Grimes County were blacktopped, beginning with the construction of State Highway 90 from Navasota to Madisonville.

During the Great Depression, Navasota lost several of its businesses, but by 1940 its population had grown to 6,138. Unfortunately the consolidation and mechanization of the agriculture industry forced many farmers to reduce the number of their employees, thus causing a decrease in the City’s population. By 1950, only 4,976 residents remained.

Post Depression

In 1952, Navasota businesses joined together to combat the decline in growth, and organized the Navasota Industrial Foundation. The foundation’s primary duty was to search for new industries to bring them to the area. The number of manufacturing establishments and jobs increased within Grimes County between 1967 and 1982, and Navasota gained manufacturing producers in the mobile home, furniture, cheese, steel tubing, and oilfield machinery industries. Navasota began to exercise a dominant influence over the economic, social, and political life of Grimes County, and consequently, the population grew from 4,937 in 1960 to 5,971 by 1980.

The residents of Navasota organized their efforts to revitalize the Downtown area. This renewal of Downtown began in 1980, when Navasota was chosen for the National Main Street program sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. This revitalization spurred other economic opportunities within Navasota such as the development of the Wallace Pack minimum-security prison outside of the City limits in the early 1980’s. This new facility brought new economic diversity to the area and helped ease jobs lost from the collapse of the oil industry in the 1980’s. In 1990, Navasota’s population was 6,296, and the City had established itself as an agribusiness center for the surrounding counties.

Nearby Attractions

Navasota is considered to be the gateway to Washington-On-The-Brazos State Park, located only 7 miles from the City. The 71-acre state park is located on the site where the Texas Declaration of Independence was signed on March 2, 1836, creating the Republic of Texas. Facilities at the state park include: Independence Hall, a replica of the building where the Declaration was signed; the home of Anson Jones, the final president of the Republic of Texas; the Star of the Republic Museum, which commemorates the history of the Republic of Texas from 1836-1846; the Barrington Living History Farm, which recreates daily cotton farm life. Located in Navasota is the Horlock History Center, a home that was originally built in 1892 by Colonel R.A. Horlock, and is used today as a museum exhibiting historical artifacts from Grimes County.

Sources:

Chinski, Maurine. 1954. The Navasota Bluebonnet. Commemorating 100 Years of City Growth & Development 1854-1954. Navasota: Grimes County COC.

The Handbook of Texas Online. 2003. Navasota, Texas & Grimes County articles.
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/NN/hfn1.html and
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/GG/hcg11.html.

The Navasota Examiner. "Visitor’s Guide". Thursday, January 22, 2004.