Weldon, Texas | |
|---|---|
  Weldon  Weldon | |
| Coordinates: 31°01′18″N95°34′17″W / 31.02167°N 95.57139°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Texas |
| County | Houston |
| Elevation | 249 ft (76 m) |
| Population (2000) | |
| • Total | 131 |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (Central (CST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
| ZIP code | 75835 |
Weldon is an unincorporated community in Houston County, Texas, United States. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had a population of 131 in 2000.
The Weldon area was settled sometime after the Civil War. A post office was established at Weldon in 1869. The community became a lumber town when the Waco, Beaumont, Trinity and Sabine Railway built a track through the settlement in the 1880s. With 150 residents in 1885, the community's businesses consisted of saw and gristmills, a cotton gin, two general stores, a drugstore, and a meat market. It continued to be a successful community in the 1910s and 1920s and by the 1930s, the population grew to 200 and still had several businesses. It plunged to 80 by 1950, then grew to 131 from 1990 through 2000. [1]
On May 11, 2021, an EF0 tornado struck Weldon. [2]
The Beaumont and Great Northern Railroad operated an orphan line from Livingston to Weldon. [3]
Weldon is located on Farm to Market Road 230, 21 mi (34 km) south of Crockett in southern Houston County. [1]
The community's first school opened in either the 1870s or 1880s. [1] Weldon is served by the Lovelady Independent School District.
On July 14, 1945, a USAAF North American TB-25C (trainer variant) suffering apparent engine trouble crashed one mile northwest of Weldon, killing 11 passengers and crew. The airplane exploded into flames upon impact with the ground, scattering wreckage over an area of 400 yards. [4]
The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of African American military pilots and airmen who fought in World War II. They formed the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group (Medium) of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). The name also applies to the navigators, bombardiers, mechanics, instructors, crew chiefs, nurses, cooks, and other support personnel. The Tuskegee airmen received praise for their excellent combat record earned while protecting white American bombers from enemy fighters. The group was awarded three Distinguished Unit Citations.
Beaumont is a coastal city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the seat of government of Jefferson County, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan statistical area, located in Southeast Texas on the Neches River about 85 miles (137 km) east of Houston. With a population of 115,282 at the 2020 census, Beaumont is the largest incorporated municipality by population near the Louisiana border. Its metropolitan area was the 10th largest in Texas in 2019, and 132nd in the United States.
Longview is a city in and county seat of Gregg County, Texas, United States. Longview is located in East Texas, where Interstate 20 and U.S. highways 80 and 259 converge just north of the Sabine River. According to the 2020 U.S. census, the city had a population of 81,638. Longview is the principal city of the Longview metropolitan statistical area, comprising Gregg, Upshur, and Rusk counties. The population of the metropolitan area as of 2021 census estimates was 287,858.
Port Arthur is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, 90 mi (140 km) east of Houston. Part of the Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area, Port Arthur lies primarily in Jefferson County, with a small, uninhabited extension in Orange County. The largest oil refinery in the United States, the Motiva Refinery, is located there.
The city of Houston in the U.S. state of Texas was founded in 1837 after Augustus and John Allen had acquired land to establish a new town at the junction of Buffalo and White Oak bayous in 1836. Houston served as the temporary capital of the Republic of Texas. Meanwhile, the town developed as a regional transportation and commercial hub. Houston was part of an independent nation until 1846 when the United States formally annexed Texas. Railroad development began in the late 1850s but ceased during the American Civil War. Houston served the Confederacy as a regional military logistics center. The population increased during the war and blockade runners used the town as a center for their operations.
Independence is an unincorporated community in Washington County, Texas, United States. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had a population of 140 in 2000. It is located within the Greater Houston metropolitan area.
Apple Springs is a small unincorporated community in Trinity County, Texas, United States. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had a population of 185 in 2000. It is located within the Huntsville, Texas micropolitan area.
Neches is an unincorporated community in east central Anderson County, in the U.S. state of Texas. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had a population of 175 in 2000. It is located within the Palestine, Texas micropolitan area.
Westfield is an unincorporated community in Harris County, Texas, United States located along Interstate 45 and the Union Pacific Railroad nineteen miles (30 km) north of Downtown Houston.
The Beaumont, Sour Lake and Western Railway was an 85-mile (137 km) railroad that ran from Beaumont, Texas to Gulf Coast Junction in Houston. It passed through small southeast Texas communities such as Hull, Kenefick, and Huffman. As part of the Gulf Coast Lines system, the road was eventually merged into the Missouri Pacific Railroad in 1956, which in turn was merged into the Union Pacific Railroad in 1982. The Union Pacific still makes heavy use of the route.
The Galveston Bay Area, also known as Bay Area Houston or simply the Bay Area, is a region that surrounds the Galveston Bay estuary of Southeast Texas in the United States, within Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan area. Normally the term refers to the mainland communities around the bay and excludes Galveston as well as most of Houston.
Bleiblerville is an unincorporated community in northern Austin County, Texas, United States. According to the Handbook of Texas, its population was 71 in 2000. It is located within the Greater Houston metropolitan area.
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.
Lake Victor is an unincorporated community in Burnet County, Texas, United States. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had an estimated population of 215 in 2000.
The Texas oil boom, sometimes called the gusher age, was a period of dramatic change and economic growth in the U.S. state of Texas during the early 20th century that began with the discovery of a large petroleum reserve near Beaumont, Texas. The find was unprecedented in its size (worldwide) and ushered in an age of rapid regional development and industrialization that has few parallels in U.S. history. Texas quickly became one of the leading oil-producing states in the U.S., along with Oklahoma and California; soon the nation overtook the Russian Empire as the top producer of petroleum. By 1940 Texas had come to dominate U.S. production. Some historians even define the beginning of the world's Oil Age as the beginning of this era in Texas.
Anchor is an unincorporated community in central Brazoria County, Texas, United States. It is located within the Greater Houston metropolitan area.
Posey is an unincorporated community located on the level plains of the Llano Estacado, approximately 11 mi (18 km) southeast of Lubbock in southeastern Lubbock County, Texas, United States.
Theodore Johnson was an American military serviceman who served during World War II and was a Documented Original Tuskegee Airman.
Sgt. Major Thomas Ellis from San Antonio, Texas, was a member of the famed group of World War II-era African-Americans known as the Tuskegee Airmen. He served in the 301st Fighter Squadron and the 332nd Fighter Group during WWII.
Graham "Peepsight" Smith was an U.S. Army Air Force officer and combat fighter pilot with the 332nd Fighter Group's 99th Fighter Squadron, best known as the Tuskegee Airmen. He was a member of Tuskegee Airmen's fourth-ever aviation cadet program and one of the 1,007 documented Tuskegee Airmen Pilots.
Municipalities and communities of Houston County, Texas, United States | ||
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| Cities |  | |
| Unincorporated communities |
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| Ghost towns | ||
| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |