Dinsmore is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

Wharton County, Texas Wharton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 41,570. Its county seat is Wharton. The county was named for brothers William Harris Wharton and John Austin Wharton. Wharton County c ...

, United States. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had a population of 250 in the early 1990s. It is located within the

Greater Houston Greater Houston, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land, is the fifth-most populous metropolitan statistical area in the United States, encompassing nine counties along the Gulf Co ...

metropolitan area.

History

Dinsmore was established as an

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

community by E.W. Roberts. It is located on John Dinsmore's league of land. The plat was established in 1913 and was originally named Roberts, but the settlers called it Dinsmore. It comprised 38 blocks; nine avenues ran east to west while six streets ran north to south and were named for locals. They were small and cheap and gave the descendants of former slaves somewhere to build a home. These settlers worked as

tenant farmer A tenant farmer is a person (farmer or farmworker) who resides on land owned by a landlord. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management, ...

s and sharecroppers. They also hired agricultural workers. It is located near Burr, which had the largest Black population in the county due to plantations along Caney Creek. The

Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway The Buffalo Bayou, Brazos, and Colorado Railway (B.B.B.C. or B.B.B. & C.), also called the Harrisburg Road or Harrisburg Railroad, was the first operating railroad in Texas. It completed its first segment of track between Harrisburg, Texas (now a ...

was built from Wharton to Van Vleck in 1900. This caused White people to move into the area. Roberts owned and operated a mercantile store east of Wharton's courthouse square and started selling lots to citizens in 1914. He then moved to

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

after filing bankruptcy and sold his county holdings. A smaller plat in 1920 reduced Dinsmore to three avenues, four streets, and ten blocks with 12 lots. There were 50 houses, one business, and 250 residents in the early 1990s.

Geography

Dinsmore is located on Farm to Market Road 1301, east of Wharton in Wharton County.

Education

One lot in Dinsmore was saved for a school and park across the street from it, but they were never built. Today, the community is served by the

Wharton Independent School District Wharton Independent School District is a public school district based in Wharton, Texas (USA). Wharton ISD's motto is "Preparing Today for a Competitive Tomorrow." Visit www.whartonisd.net for more information. In 2014, the Wharton Independen ...

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Texas Unincorporated communities in Wharton County, Texas