Moscow 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 ...

Polk County Polk County is the name of twelve counties in the United States, all except two named after president of the United States James Knox Polk: * Polk County, Arkansas * Polk County, Florida * Polk County, Georgia * Polk County, Iowa * Polk Count ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. As of the year

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

, the community had approximately 170 residents.

Geography

Moscow is at the junction of U.S. Highway 59 and Farm to Market Road 350, ninety miles north of Houston in central Polk County.

History

David and Matilda Green first settled the area in the 1840s. The first

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...

was established in 1847 under Green's name. The community's name was changed to Moscow, after

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

, Russia, in 1853 as the postal authorities deemed the proposed name of Greenville as being too similar to Greensboro, Texas. The First Baptist Church was established in 1849. Moscow became a trading center for Polk County

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer m ...

s during the latter 1850s and a stage stop on the Liberty-Nacogdoches Road, with cotton gins, shops,

saloons Saloon may refer to: Buildings and businesses * One of the bars in a traditional British pub * An alternative name for a bar (establishment) * Western saloon, a historical style of American bar * The Saloon, a bar and music venue in San Francisc ...

and a

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

. The town was noted for its school, the Moscow Masonic Academy (or Moscow Masonic High School depending on source). Built in 1853 as the Moscow Masonic Male and Female Academy, the institution served the community under its latter name from 1857. Future Texas Governor William P. Hobby attended the school. The school burned down around 1935. The

Houston, East and West Texas Railway The history of the Southern Pacific stretches from 1865 to 1998. For the main page, see Southern Pacific Transportation Company; for the former holding company, see Southern Pacific Rail Corporation. The Southern Pacific was represented by three ...

reached the town in 1880 followed by the seven-mile long Moscow, Camden and San Augustine Railroad in 1899, one of the shortest railroads in Texas. A mule-drawn

streetcar A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport a ...

line linked the

train station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing s ...

with the business district.

Sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

s in Moscow supported the burgeoning logging industry. A

cannery Canning is a method of food preservation in which food is processed and sealed in an airtight container ( jars like Mason jars, and steel and tin cans). Canning provides a shelf life that typically ranges from one to five years, although ...

for vegetables and fruit and a column factory (making architectural columns) were early industries in the town that helped diversify Moscow's economy. In 1880, with an estimated 228 residents, Moscow was the largest town in Polk County. By 1900 its population had reached 263. By the 1920s, the

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...

supply in

East Texas East Texas is a broadly defined cultural, geographic, and ecological region in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas that comprises most of 41 counties. It is primarily divided into Northeast and Southeast Texas. Most of the region cons ...

began to dwindle due to

overharvesting Overexploitation, also called overharvesting, refers to harvesting a renewable resource to the point of diminishing returns. Continued overexploitation can lead to the destruction of the resource, as it will be unable to replenish. The term ap ...

. Coupled with the Great Depression, many lumber companies left the area, as well as many farmers going

bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

due to the economic conditions. With the decline of logging and

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

, Moscow's population began to decline also and per 2000 census was 170. Its a small peaceful quiet town with Hobby Park, Big Jakes restaurant and Kundi Ranch (est 2018), on US Hwy 59.

Education

Moscow is served by

Corrigan-Camden Independent School District Corrigan-Camden Independent School District is a public school district based in Corrigan, Texas, Corrigan, Texas (United States, USA). In 2022, the school district was given an "A" rating by the Texas Education Agency. C-CISD was one of ...

Notable people

* William P. Hobby, publisher of the ''

Houston Post The ''Houston Post'' was a newspaper that had its headquarters in Houston, Texas, United States. In 1995, the newspaper shut down, and its assets were purchased by the '' Houston Chronicle''. History Gail Borden Johnson founded the ''Houston ...

'' and the 27th Governor of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

from 1917 to 1921.

References

External links

* Unincorporated communities in Texas Unincorporated communities in Polk County, Texas {{PolkCountyTX-geo-stub