Jonesboro 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 Coryell and

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

counties in

Central Texas Central Texas is a region in the U.S. state of Texas roughly bordered on the west by San Saba, to the southeast by Bryan- College Station, the south by San Marcos and to the north by Hillsboro. Central Texas overlaps with and includes part ...

, United States. The Coryell County portion of the community is part of the Killeen–

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

–

Fort Hood Fort Cavazos is a United States Army post located near Killeen, Texas. The post is currently named after Gen. Richard E. Cavazos, a native Texan and the US Army’s first Hispanic four-star general. The post is located halfway between Austi ...

Metropolitan Statistical Area. The

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the federal governmen ...

operates the Jonesboro Post Office.

History

William L. and David Jones built a steam-powered

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

and

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...

on the

Leon River The Leon River is a river in the U.S. state of Texas. It has three primary forks - the North, Middle, and South Leon Rivers, which meet near Eastland and then run for around until it meets with the Lampasas River and the Salado Creek to f ...

in 1866. It was first settled sometime after the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

and was named as Jones Mill. The local church and

Masonic Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

organization shared a large frame building in this area that was built from 1869 to 1873. Its post office was established in 1871, with Charles Pate as postmaster. The community's name was changed to Jonesboro in 1877 and had 350 residents. It was served by two steam-powered gristmills and

cotton gin A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); ...

s, a sawmill, and three churches in the mid-1880s. The population boomed to 700 during the next decade, which declined when the

Stephenville North and South Texas Railway Stephenville may refer to: * Stephenville, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada * Stephenville, Edison, New Jersey, United States * Stephenville, Mississippi, United States * Stephenville, Texas Stephenville is a city in and the county seat of E ...

bypassed the community in 1911, after which it went down to 450 in 1914. Despite the improvement of the economy in 1930s, the community went into another decline when

Texas State Highway 36 State Highway 36 (SH 36) runs from Freeport to Abilene. It was designated as the 36th Division Memorial Highway between Cameron and Sealy by the Texas Legislature in 1985. History SH 36 was originally proposed on November 21, 1917, as a rou ...

was built. The population was 378 from the 1930s to the mid-1960s and continued to fall to 200 from the mid-1970s through 2000. An article reporting the murder of Sandeela Kanwal mistook the place of the murder for Jonesboro.

Geography

Jonesboro is located at the intersection of

and Farm to Market Road 1602, northwest of Gatesville, southeast of

, and west of

Waco Waco ( ) is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a U.S. census estimated 2024 population of 146,608, making i ...

on the Hamilton-Coryell County line.

Climate

The climate is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

system, Jonesboro has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps.

Education

Jonesboro had its own school until in the mid-1880s. The first classes were held in the building where the church and Masonic organization met. The community is served by the Jonesboro Independent School District, which includes Jonesboro School.

Notable person

Cloyce Box Cloyce Kennedy Box (August 24, 1923 – October 27, 1993) was an American professional football player and businessman. He played five years in the National Football League (NFL) with the Detroit Lions, was a member of NFL championship team ...

, who played football at Jonesboro School.

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Coryell County, Texas Unincorporated communities in Hamilton County, Texas Unincorporated communities in Texas Killeen–Temple–Fort Hood metropolitan area