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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