Littig is a small

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 eastern

Travis County Travis County is located in Central Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,290,188. It is the fifth-most populous county in Texas. Its county seat and most populous city is Austin, the state's capital. The county was established i ...

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 37 in 2000. It is located within the

Greater Austin The Austin–Round Rock–San Marcos Metropolitan Statistical Area, metropolitan statistical area, or Greater Austin, is a five-county United States metropolitan area, metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Texas, as defined by the Office of ...

metropolitan area.

History

One of the state's oldest Black communities is claimed to exist there. On land donated by a former slave named Jackson Morrow, the townsite was established in 1883. The former general division agent of the

Houston and Texas Central Railway The Houston and Texas Central Railway (H&TC) was an 872-mile (1403-km) railway system chartered in Texas in 1848, with construction beginning in 1856. The line eventually stretched from Houston northward to Dallas and Denison, Texas, with branch ...

, A. B. Littig, who conducted the townsite survey, is honored by the town's name. A church was erected in 1887 on land that J. W. Bitting gave as a gift. There was a post office founded in 1889, with Thomas B. Fowler serving as the postmaster. In 1900, Littig had 168 persons, a general store, two

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, and three churches. The town's population dropped from an estimated 150 in 1936 to 35 by the 1940s as a result of the community's collapse that started in the 1930s. After the Littig post office was shut down in 1954, it received its mail from

Elgin Elgin may refer to: Places Canada * Elgin County, Ontario * Elgin Settlement, a 19th-century community for freed slaves located in present-day North Buxton and South Buxton, Ontario * Elgin, a village in Rideau Lakes, Ontario * Elgin, Manit ...

. On topographic maps of the region from the 1980s, the village was indicated by a church and some houses. 37 people were reportedly living in Littig between the late 1960s and 2000.

Geography

Littig is located on the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was oper ...

, south of U.S. Highway 290 and northeast of

Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

in eastern Travis County. Littig is surrounded by blackland prairie soil, suitable for growing

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

maize Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native American ...

and

corn Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout Poaceae, grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago ...

. An important creek, part of the watershed, meanders along the Southern Pacific right-of-way with numerous wooden trestles near Littig. The Littig Cemetery is located nearby.

Education

J.W. Bitting gave a grant of land for a school to be built in 1887. Three one-teacher schools serving 185 Black kids and one one-teacher school serving 33 White pupils made up the Littig Common School District in 1907. In 1952, the Manda district merged with the Littig schools. Today, the community is served by the

Manor Independent School District Manor Independent School District (MISD) is a public school district based in Manor, Texas, United States. The district serves much of Manor, as well as a wide section of northeastern Austin, Texas, Austin and a small portion of Pflugerville, T ...

. Schools serving the community are Presidential Meadows Elementary School, Manor Middle School, and Manor High School.

Notable person

Beatrice Morrow Cannady Beatrice Morrow Cannady (January 9, 1890 – August 19, 1974) was a renowned civil rights advocate in early 20th-century Oregon, United States. She was editor of the ''Advocate'', the state's largest African-American newspaper. She was also co-fo ...

, civil rights activist, was born in Littig.

References

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