Preston is a

ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * Ghost Town (1936 film), ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * Ghost Town (1956 film), ''Ghost Town'' ...

in Wharton County in 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 sover ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. The one-time settlement was located in the land grant belonging to

Old Three Hundred The "Old Three Hundred" were 297 grantees who purchased 307 parcels of land from Stephen Fuller Austin in Mexican Texas. Each grantee was head of a household, or, in some cases, a partnership of married men. Austin was an American approved in 18 ...

settler John Huff near an important north-south trail. During the early years of the

Republic of Texas The Republic of Texas ( es, República de Tejas) was a sovereign state in North America that existed from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846, that bordered Mexico, the Republic of the Rio Grande in 1840 (another breakaway republic from Mex ...

lots were sold and a town took shape. Postal service began in 1839 and ceased in 1857. The only evidence that a town existed is an old cemetery near Farm to Market Road 1096 (FM 1096) south of

Iago Iago () is a fictional character in Shakespeare's ''Othello'' (c. 1601–1604). Iago is the play's main antagonist, and Othello's standard-bearer. He is the husband of Emilia, who is in turn the attendant of Othello's wife Desdemona. Iago hates ...

History

On February 5, 1838, less than two years after the founding of the

, an advertisement appeared in the ''Matagorda Bulletin'' newspaper. The notice declared that lots were for sale in the town of Preston by D. D. D. Baker, John Huff and Charles DeMorse. Baker was a veteran of the

Battle of San Jacinto The Battle of San Jacinto ( es, Batalla de San Jacinto), fought on April 21, 1836, in present-day La Porte and Pasadena, Texas, was the final and decisive battle of the Texas Revolution. Led by General Samuel Houston, the Texan Army engaged ...

, Huff owned the original land grant as one of the

and DeMorse was a Matagorda attorney. Preston was located from the

Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid drainage basin, watershed that encompasses parts of ...

on the west and from Caney Creek on the east. The town site was situated on the north-south trail from Matagorda to Bastrop and near the road east 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 in ...

via Little's Ferry. The promoters noted that a new county was to be formed and that their new town was an ideal candidate for the county seat. They promised to set up a brick kiln to provide building materials. A post office was set up in Preston in 1839 with Huff as the first postmaster. However, the post office was discontinued in 1857. The cemetery contains nine graves, Eliza Merrit (d. 1851), Tilson C. Barden (d. 1877), three members of the Bradshaw family (d. 1848, 1854 and 1854) and four members of the Thompson family (d. 1845 1852, 1856 and 1860).

Geography

The town site was located in the John Huff league about south of

Wharton Wharton may refer to: Academic institutions * Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania * Wharton County Junior College * Paul R. Wharton High School * Wharton Center for Performing Arts, at Michigan State University Places * Wharton, Ch ...

near present-day FM 1096. The cemetery was in poor condition in 1990. South of Iago, FM 1096 heads straight southwest, curving northwest before intersecting with Farm to Market Road 3012.

References

{{Wharton County, Texas Ghost towns in South Texas 1838 establishments in the Republic of Texas