Pottsville 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 ...
located in western
Hamilton County in
Central Texas, United States.
History
Named for early settler John Potts, who was a shepherd, the community was founded as a
dry town
A dry county is a county in the United States whose government forbids the sale of any kind of alcoholic beverages. Some prohibit off-premises sale, some prohibit on-premises sale, and some prohibit both. Dozens of dry counties exist across the ...
in 1872 when Edmund T. Goggin donated land for the townsite. A post office was established in 1879. Pottsville has undergone multiple catastrophes: every business was burned in a 1913 fire, and great damage was done by a 1944
tornado
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...
, which killed one person. The local
cotton gin closed in 1931. The community had a population of 200 in 1947 and had four businesses. It went up to 312 in the 1980s with three churches, a feed store, a mill, a garage, a store, and a beauty parlor. It remained at 312 in 1990 and went down to 100 in 2000.
Potts' friend, Thomas Jefferson Burks, built a store in the community in 1877. Mail was delivered to the community from Hamilton by a
mule-drawn carriage and then by a horse-drawn carriage. The community burned again in 1922.
Although Pottsville is unincorporated, it has a
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 ...
, with the
ZIP code of 76565; the
ZCTA for ZIP Code 76565 had a population of 142 at the
2000 census.
Geography
Pottsville lies at the intersection of
Fm-218, 221, and 2842 on Cowhouse Creek,
west of the city of
Hamilton Hamilton may refer to:
People
* Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname
** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland
** Lord Hamilt ...
, southwest of
Fort Worth, and northwest of
Austin in western Hamilton County.
Climate
The climate in this area is characterized by relatively high temperatures and evenly distributed precipitation throughout the year. The
Köppen Climate System describes the weather as
humid subtropical
A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...
, and uses the abbreviation ''Cfa''.
Education
Pottsville is within the
Hamilton Independent School District. The
Pottsville Independent School District merged into the Hamilton district on July 1, 1989.
Its first school was founded in 1876 and remained operational in 1986. It had an elementary and high school during that decade.
In popular culture
The
Jim Thompson novel
Pop. 1280 takes place in a fictional town of Pottsville.
References
{{authority control
Unincorporated communities in Hamilton County, Texas
Unincorporated communities in Texas
Populated places established in 1872
1872 establishments in Texas