Fannett is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP) in Jefferson County,

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, United States. The population was 2,363 at the 2020 census. It is about southwest of Beaumont and is part of the

Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area The Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan statistical area is a three-county region in Southeast Texas. The metropolitan area shares borders with the Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan area to the west and the Lake Charles metropoli ...

History

The community is named after B. J. Fannett, a local landowner who opened a general store there in the 1890s. When

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese immigrants brought

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

farming to the area, Fannett grew to meet the farmers' needs. In 1993 and again in 2004, Fannett was the center of a controversy over the naming of Jap Road (now

Boondocks Road Boondocks Road (formerly Jap Road) is a 4.3-mile (6.9-kilometer) road in Fannett, Texas. History In the early 20th century, Japanese immigrant Yoshio Mayumi and his brother Yasuo settled in Fannett, purchasing 1734 acres (7 km2) of land. T ...

). The road had been named in the early 20th century in reference to the immigrant rice farmer Yoshio Mayumi. However, as social awareness increased over time, it became clear that the name was never meant to honor Mayumi and had always been an ethnic slur. Instead of naming the road after Mayumi, it was decided to change the name to Boondocks Road. Fannett is home to the Clifton Steamboat Museum, which features a large exhibit on Lieutenant Commander Harry Brinkley Bass (after whom the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

destroyer was named).

Demographics

Fannett first appeared as a

census designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

in the 2010 U.S. Census. As of the 2020 United States census, there were 2,363 people, 871 households, and 588 families residing in the CDP.

Education

In 1961, the Fannett Independent School District was combined with that of neighboring Hamshire, forming the Hamshire-Fannett Independent School District. Hamshire-Fannett ISD is assigned to Galveston College in

Galveston Galveston ( ) is a Gulf Coast of the United States, coastal resort town, resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island (Texas), Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a pop ...

.Texas Education Code, Section 130.179,
Galveston College District Service Area
".

References

External links

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Clifton Steamboat Museum
{{authority control Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area Unincorporated communities in Jefferson County, Texas Unincorporated communities in Texas