Wharton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 41,570. Its county seat is Wharton. The county was named for brothers William Harris Wharton and John Austin Wharton.
Van Vleck is a census-designated place (CDP) in Matagorda County, Texas, United States. The population is one of the few areas with positive growth in Matagorda County. The 2010 census showed a 25% increase with 1,844 people. Although near Bay City, TX the site of Van Vleck falls outside the ETJ of Bay City, TX and is regulated by county police and county ordinance.
Boling-Iago is a census-designated place (CDP) in Wharton County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,271 as of the 2000 United States Census. Boling-Iago is located along Farm to Market Road 1301 about 10 miles (16 km) southeast of Wharton, the county seat. Boling is located at the intersection of FM 1301 and Farm to Market Road 442, while the community of Iago is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to the northeast at the intersection of FM 1301 and Farm to Market Road 1096. The Boling Independent School District received a Recognized ranking in 2010. The numerous pump jacks and oil tanks in the vicinity indicate that Boling and Iago lie atop oil-bearing rock formations.
Hungerford is a census-designated place (CDP) in northeastern Wharton County, Texas, United States. U.S. Route 59, Texas State Highway 60, and Farm to Market Road 1161 intersect in the community. The Kansas City Southern Railway Co. passes through Hungerford. The population was 347 at the 2010 census. It is located on what in the 1820s was part of colonist Alexander Jackson's land grant north of George E. Quinan's home. By the 1870s, the Quinan settlement grew up a short distance away, but its residents moved to the new town when the railroad came through Hungerford.
The Colorado River is an approximately 862-mile (1,387 km) long river in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the 11th longest river in the United States and the longest river with both its source and its mouth within Texas.
Sargent is a small unincorporated community located in the eastern corner of Matagorda County, Texas, United States.
Matagorda is a census-designated place in Matagorda County, Texas. It is located near the mouth of the Colorado River on the upper Texas coast in the United States. In 2020, its population was 313. Matagorda is primarily a tourist town, with commercial and recreational fishing being the top industries. About 23 miles (37 km) of the beach are accessible by vehicle and 35 additional miles are accessible only by boat. Matagorda is at the end of State Highway 60 and the beginning of Farm to Market Road 2031, which runs over the Intracoastal Waterway and south to the Gulf of Mexico.
Egypt is an unincorporated community in northern Wharton County in the U.S. state of Texas. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had a population of 26 in 2000. It is located within the Greater Houston metropolitan area.
Caney Creek (Matagorda Bay) is a river in Texas that begins northwest of Wharton, flows generally southeast, and empties into the Gulf of Mexico near Sargent. The major waterway to the west is the Colorado River while the next major waterway to the east is the San Bernard River.
Thomas Jefferson Pilgrim started the first school in Texas. The town of Pilgrim, Texas, is named for Thomas J. Pilgrim. Thomas was born to Thomas and Dorcas Pilgrim, in East Haddam, Connecticut. Thomas attended the Hamilton Literary and Theological Institute at Colgate University. In 1828, Pilgrim heard about the settlements in Texas and left school in New York to travel to Texas in the company of approximately sixty men. The pilgrimage (npi) was led by Elias R. Wightman. Pilgrim arrived at Matagorda, Texas. Soon thereafter, Pilgrim served the Austin Colony as a Spanish interpreter. Pilgrim was also a close friend of Stephen F. Austin.
Travis County has had two locations named Montopolis. The first was during the Republic of Texas period north of the Colorado River. The second is today's Montopolis neighborhood in Austin, Texas south of the river. Located southeast of the city's urban core, today's neighborhood is in ZIP code 78741. Montopolis is bounded by Lake Lady Bird on the north, by Grove Street and the Pleasant Valley neighborhood on the west, to the south by Texas State Highway 71, and by U.S. Route 183 on the east. The southeast corner abuts Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. Montopolis is in City Council District 3.
The Pinta Trail is a historic trail in Central Texas that was first traveled by indigenous tribes, and later explorers, settlers, soldiers, and travelers. The 19th-century Germans who settled the Texas Hill Country used part of the Pinta Trail on their journey northward from New Braunfels to found Fredericksburg. A historic battle between a Texas Rangers patrol and a band of Comanches is often said to have occurred near a ford where the Pinta Trail crossed the Guadalupe River.
Nottawa is a ghost town in northeastern Wharton County, in the U.S. state of Texas. The former community was situated in a rice-growing area midway between East Bernard and Lissie at the junction of U.S. Route 90 Alternate (US 90A) and Farm to Market Road 1164 (FM 1164). There was a gas compressor station on the site in 2016.
Joseph Newman moved to Texas and became one of Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred colonists. In 1806, he married Rachel Rabb in Ohio. Their family, which eventually expanded to include ten children, moved first to Illinois Territory and by 1820 was living along the Red River in Spanish Texas. In 1824, the Newmans and Rabbs moved to a land grant in modern-day Wharton County, Texas where they farmed and ranched. Joseph died in 1831 but his wife lived until 1872.
Preston is a ghost town in Wharton County in the U.S. state of Texas. The one-time settlement was located in the land grant belonging to Old Three Hundred settler John Huff near an important north–south trail. During the early years of the Republic of Texas, lots were sold and a town took shape. Postal service began in 1839 and ceased in 1857. The only evidence that a town existed is an old cemetery near Farm to Market Road 1096, (FM 1096) south of Iago.
Waterville was a ghost town in Wharton County in the U.S. state of Texas. The former settlement was located along Water Hole Creek, near the site of Preston, another ghost town. During the Civil War, the town provided soldiers to the Confederate States Army as well as a Home Guard unit. Waterville had a post office intermittently between 1859 and 1880. Local residents attempted to restart postal service in 1883, but it was permanently stopped the following year.
Mackay is an unincorporated community in central Wharton County, in the U.S. state of Texas. The once thriving community is located on U.S. Route 59, (US 59) southwest of Wharton near Wharton Regional Airport. Mackay began as a railroad stop near a large ranch in 1881 and saw an influx of immigrants beginning in 1907. The community had its own post office from 1921 to 1937, but most of the buildings were gone by 1990. There were two businesses and a grain silo at the site in 2014.
Plainview is a ghost town in southwestern Wharton County in the U.S. state of Texas. It was located at the intersection of Farm to Market Road 441 (FM 441) and Farm to Market Road 1163 (FM 1163), southwest of El Campo. The community had its own school from as early as 1916 until 1948. The town hall building still existed in 2014, but there were only a few homes nearby.
Don-Tol is a small unincorporated community in southeastern Wharton County, in the U.S. state of Texas. The community is located along FM 1301 southeast of Boling. There is a Don-Tol sign on FM 1301 at County Road 100. The name was used by Mexican workers to address William Toliver Taylor, the owner of a post-Civil War sugar cane plantation.
Ashwood is a small unincorporated community in Matagorda County, Texas, United States. It is located at the intersection of FM 1728 and County Road 112. The community was established when a railroad was built through the area around 1900. It had a post office between 1910 and 1952 when it closed.
