Dew 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 southern
Freestone County, Texas, United States. It is located at the junction of
State Highway 75 and
Farm to Market Road 489, nine miles south of
Fairfield, 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 ...
.
Originally known as Avant or Avant Prairie, the area was first settled in the 1850s by pioneers from
Alabama
Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...
. It hosted a
post office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...
under the name "Avant" from 1853 through January 1885.
In 1870, the settlement's name was changed to Sunshine after a local
Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...
church. A post office was reestablished in December 1885 with the town renamed Dew. Locals requested the name "Drew" to honor a local resident, but the postal authorities misread the application.
The population of Dew peaked in 1947, when it was home to 195 residents. approximately 70 people reside in Dew . The
Dew Independent School District serves area students.
References
External links
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Unincorporated communities in Freestone County, Texas
Unincorporated communities in Texas