Egypt 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 northern 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 so ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. 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 26 in 2000. It is located within the

Greater Houston Greater Houston, designated by the Office of Management and Budget, United States Office of Management and Budget as Houston–Pasadena–The Woodlands, is the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fifth-most populous metropolitan statistical ...

metropolitan area.

History

Egypt was founded before any other

settlement Settlement may refer to: *Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), downward movement of a structure's foundation *Settlement (finance), where securities are delivered against payment of money *Settlement (litigatio ...

in Wharton County and was a part of

Colorado County Colorado County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 20,557. Its county seat is Columbus. It is named for the Colorado River of Texas. The county was founded in 1836 and organized the next ...

during the

Republic of Texas The Republic of Texas (), or simply Texas, was a country in North America that existed for close to 10 years, from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846. Texas shared borders with Centralist Republic of Mexico, the Republic of the Rio Grande, an ...

period. Egypt is located on John C. Clark's league of land. Robert Kuykendall had land below Egypt, and Thomas Rabb had land north of the community. These three men were members of the

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 unmarried men. Austin was an American approved in ...

. The community had a population of 26 in 2000. Egypt's 1827 name change from "Mercer's Crossing" came from the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

, and originated from the text of

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Religion * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...

42:1-3. On August 26, 2017, a tornado debris signature was spotted on the radar just south of Egypt.

Geography

Egypt is located on

Farm to Market Road 102 Farm to Market Road 102 (FM 102) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Texas. The highway begins at State Highway 60 (SH 60) in Wharton in Wharton County. It heads northwest through Eagle Lake in Colorado County and ends at Inter ...

, northwest of Wharton in Wharton County.

Education

Egypt had a school district from 1854 to 1958, when it joined the Hungerford Independent School District. Today, the community is served by the

El Campo Independent School District The El Campo Independent School District is a public school district based in El Campo, Texas, United States. The district serves El Campo as well as rural areas in central and south central Wharton County. In 2009, the school district was ...

Cultural significance

Horton Foote Albert Horton Foote Jr. (March 14, 1916March 4, 2009) was an American playwright and screenwriter. He received Academy Awards for ''To Kill a Mockingbird'', which was adapted from the 1960 novel of the same name by Harper Lee, and the film, '' ...

's 1980 play ''A Coffin in Egypt'' is a fictionalized portrait of a real-life Egypt resident.

Leonard Foglia Leonard Foglia (born August 24, 1954) is an American theatre director, librettist, and novelist. Foglia made his Broadway debut as the assistant director of '' The Heidi Chronicles'' in 1989. He also directed revivals of '' Wait Until Dark'' ...

and

Ricky Ian Gordon Ricky Ian Gordon (born May 15, 1956) is an American composer of art song, opera and musical theatre. Life Gordon was born in Oceanside, New York. He was raised by his mother, Eve, and father, Sam, and he grew up on Long Island with his three sist ...

adapted the play into an opera, also called '' A Coffin in Egypt'', that was premiered by

Houston Grand Opera Houston Grand Opera (HGO) is an American opera company located in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1955 by German-born impresario Walter Herbert and three local Houstonians,Giesberg, Robert I., Carl Cunningham, and Alan Rich. ''Houston Grand Opera at ...

in 2014.

Notable person

* Joseph Kellman, businessman and philanthropist File:Egypt TX Heard Plantation.JPG, Heard-Northington Plantation

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Wharton County, Texas Unincorporated communities in Texas