Mercury 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 McCulloch 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 an estimated population of 166 in 2000. The community is situated along FM 502 in northeastern McCulloch County, approximately 22 miles northeast of

Brady Brady may refer to: People * Brady (surname) * Brady (given name) * Brady (nickname) * Brady Boone, a ring name of American professional wrestler Dean Peters (1958–1998) Places in the United States * Brady, Montana, a census-designated plac ...

. It is the community closest to the geometric center of Texas.

History

The community was founded in 1904, shortly after the arrival of the

Fort Worth and Rio Grande Railroad A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Lat ...

. Mercury became a livestock shipping point and by 1914, had an estimated population of 550. Two major fires in 1919 and 1929 severely impacted the community. In 1938, the struggling community was bypassed by the

- Brownwood highway. Mercury continued to decline and the population fell from 489 in 1933 to 360 in 1949. By 2000, the number of inhabitants stood at 166. Currently there is only one original building standing in the Town of Mercury. It is the Bank Of Mercury building that was built by Thomas Jefferson Beasley in 1903 as a bank and mercantile store. Through the years the building has exchanged hands several times; however, in 2012 the grandson of the original owner, Thomas Lee Beasley purchased the building and is currently trying to preserve the remainder of the building. The only thing that remains of the building are the four outer walls and the vault that Thomas Jefferson Beasley built. It is rumored that the vault has a dome that is filled with sand. Thomas Jefferson's theory was that if someone were to blow the safe, the top would collapse and cover everything in sand. By the time the would-be thieves got to anything, everyone in town would be there to see what was going on. Public education in the community of Mercury is provided by the Rochelle Independent School District.

References

External links

Unincorporated communities in McCulloch County, Texas Unincorporated communities in Texas {{McCullochCountyTX-geo-stub