Providence 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 Anderson County, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

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 ...

. It is a part of the

Palestine, Texas Palestine ( ) is a city in and the County seat, seat of Anderson County, Texas, Anderson County in the U.S. state of Texas. It was named after Palestine, Illinois, by preacher Daniel Parker (Baptist), Daniel Parker, who had migrated from that ...

micropolitan area.

History

Providence got its start by a land grant given to W.T. Miller on March 20, 1858, in which he was given 8 acres of land for a church and a cemetery. The residents and the community's masons built a two-story tall building with a church in the downstairs area, and a lodge called Providence Lodge No. 400 in the upstairs area. This lodge was chartered on June 15, 1874, and a man named George H. Stovall was the master. A

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with the surface of Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, although the ...

came by in 1900 and completely destroyed the building, which was then moved to the nearby town of Elkhart five years later. The community's church members worshipped under an arbor until the materials that were not destroyed by the 1900 tornado were used to build a new, one-story building. The community had numerous houses in the 1930s. The community's church then voted for its closure in 1935. Then, on June 3, 1973, that church and its cemetery were given a dedication by a

Texas Historical Marker The Texas Historical Commission is an agency dedicated to historic preservation within the U.S. state of Texas. It administers the National Register of Historic Places for sites in Texas. The commission also identifies Recorded Texas Histor ...

. Every first Sunday of June each year is when a memorial service for the church occurs. This church and its cemetery and a few scattered houses were the only things remaining in the community in 1992. Eight years later, in 2000, Providence was featured on county highway maps, but never had a population estimate available.

Geography

Providence stands just off of Farm to Market Road 323 near Slocum, approximately northwest of

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

in the northwestern portion of Anderson County.

Education

A school was to be built in Providence on the eight acre land grant given to W.T. Miller on March 20, 1858, and the community's lodge was also used as a school. The community's school served 48

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

students in 1897, and was eventually closed in 1905. Afterwards, the community's school age children attended school in nearby communities. Another school opened in the community in the 1930s.

References

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