Boston 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 ...

in and the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

Bowie County, Texas Bowie County ( ) is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Texas. Its legal county seat is Boston, Texas, Boston, though its courthouse is located in New Boston, Texas, New Boston. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 censu ...

, United States. According to the

Handbook of Texas The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) is an American nonprofit educational and research organization dedicated to documenting the history of Texas. It was founded in Austin, Texas, United States, on March 2, 1897. In November 2008, the ...

, the community had a population of 200 in 2000. It is part of the Texarkana metropolitan area.

History

In the mid-1880s, as the population of Old Boston declined, citizens of Texarkana successfully moved the county seat to their city in the extreme east of the county. Within five years, citizens of central and western Bowie County successfully proposed moving the county seat closer to the geographic center of the county. The new community began in 1890 with the construction of the County Courthouse, one mile south of New Boston and three miles north of the original Boston. The county seat was required to have a post office. After the first three proposed names, Center, Hood, and

Glass Glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline solid, non-crystalline) solid. Because it is often transparency and translucency, transparent and chemically inert, glass has found widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in window pane ...

were rejected as already in use, Boston's post office (including its name) was relocated to the new county seat, while the original was relabeled "Old Boston". In the 1980s, a new courthouse was built in New Boston, but Boston remained the county seat. Its population was recorded at 200 in 2000. Its population was also recorded as 175 from 1896 through the early 1990s. It had only two operating businesses in 1982. The Bowie County jail in the community is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

Geography

Boston is located off U.S. Highway 82 and the

Missouri Pacific Railroad The Missouri Pacific Railroad , commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers. In 1967, the railroad o ...

, west of

Texarkana The Texarkana metropolitan statistical area (MSA), as defined by the United States Office of Management and Budget, is a two-county region anchored by the Twin cities (geographical proximity), twin cities of Texarkana, Texas (population 37,33 ...

in central Bowie County.

Education

Boston is served by the New Boston Independent School District.

Notable people

* William Lee Estes,

United States federal judge In the United States, a federal judge is a judge who serves on a court established under Article Three of the U.S. Constitution. Often called "Article III judges", federal judges include the chief justice and associate justices of the U.S. S ...

, was born in Boston. * Jeff D. Leach, businessman and

microbiome A microbiome () is the community of microorganisms that can usually be found living together in any given habitat. It was defined more precisely in 1988 by Whipps ''et al.'' as "a characteristic microbial community occupying a reasonably wel ...

researcher, was born in Boston. * Howell Washington Runnels Sr. Politician; was a store clerk in Boston.

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Bowie County, Texas Unincorporated communities in Texas County seats in Texas Texarkana metropolitan area