Independence 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
Washington County,
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 ...
, 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 140 in 2000. It is located about an hour northwest of the
Greater Houston metropolitan area.
History
Its population was reported as 140 in 2010.
Milam Lodge No. 11, of the
Grand Lodge of Texas, was located in the community.
Seward Plantation 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 ...
.
A tornado hit Independence in
December 1983. On May 26, 2016, an EF0 tornado struck Independence, in which numerous trees were downed in a convergent pattern.
Geography
Independence is located at the intersection of Farm to Market Roads
390
__NOTOC__
Year 390 (Roman numerals, CCCXC) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Valentinian II, Augustus and Neoterius (or, less frequently, year 1143 ''Ab ur ...
and
50, northeast of
Brenham and west of
Houston
Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
in northeastern Washington County.
Education
Today, the community is served by the
Brenham Independent School District.
Notable people
*
George Washington Baines, a co-founder and president of
Baylor; great-grandfather of
Lyndon B. Johnson
*
Jerome B. Robertson
*
William Bizzell
*
Sam Houston Jr.
*
Lawrence Sullivan Ross, 19th
Governor of Texas, attended Baylor University.
*
Andrew Jackson Houston, son of Sam and Margaret Lea Houston and politician.
*
George W. Littlefield,
Confederate Army soldier, attended Baylor University.
*
Thomas Chilton,
U.S. Representative from
Kentucky
Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...
, co-founded Baylor University.
*
Robert Emmett Bledsoe Baylor is buried in the community's cemetery.
*
Martin Varner,
Old Three Hundred member
*
William Carey Crane, Baptist minister who preached at Independence Baptist Church from 1864 to 1867 and 1869 to 1884.
*
Hosea Garrett, clergyman and philanthropist, who served as President
Pro tempore at Baylor.
*
Henry Arthur McArdle, painter
*
Hugh Wilson, Presbyterian minister, who served as an administrator at Independence Female College.
*
Royall T. Wheeler, judge who became
Chief Justice of the
Texas Supreme Court.
*Edward Taylor, brother of
Horace D. Taylor, built a store in Independence in 1838.
*
Nancy Moffette Lea, mother of Margaret Lea Houston, moved here in 1852.
*
Antoinette Power Houston Bringhurst, the fifth child of Houston and Lea, got her education at Baylor Female College.
*
George Wythe Baylor, Confederate soldier.
[Daniell 1887, p. 105.]
*
Henry Weidner Baylor, physician and
Texas Ranger.
In popular culture
American western TV series
Walker: Independence takes place in Independence.
Gallery
File:Independence-tx2015-11.jpg, Site of Home of General Sam Houston and Family
File:Original Site of Baylor University in Independence, TX.jpg, Original Site of Baylor University
References
Further reading
* B. D. Augustin, "Independence: The Athens of Early Texas," ''Texas Highways'', March 1984.
* T. Lindsay Baker, ''Ghost Towns of Texas'', Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1986.
* Lois Smith Murray, ''Baylor at Independence'', Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 1972.
* Gracey Booker Toland, ''Austin Knew His Athens'', San Antonio, TX: Naylor, 1958.
See also
*
Texas State Highway 211
*
The Texas Collection
{{authority control
Unincorporated communities in Washington County, Texas
Unincorporated communities in Texas
Populated places established in 1835