Jamestown, Texas
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Jamestown, Texas | |
|---|---|
  Jamestown  Jamestown | |
| Coordinates: 32°35′09″N 95°35′04″W / 32.58583°N 95.58444°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Texas |
| County | Newton County, Texas |
| Elevation | 433 ft (132 m) |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (Central (CST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
| Area codes | 430 & 903 |
| GNIS feature ID | 1380864[1] |
[2][3]Jamestown (also known as Berrien, Jimtown, and Old Jamestown) was an unincorporated community in Smith County in the US state of Texas.[1][2] The site was part of the Edward Pierce Survey and was located at the intersection of Mound Indian Trail and the Starrville-Omen Road. In 1846 the town was first settled, and in 1853 David and Elizabeth Steber began laying out streets and selling lots under the condition that no taverns be built. When a post office was built in 1855, the postmaster, JB Hall, changed the name of the community from Berrien to Jamestown. By 1858 the town had three blacksmiths, two wagonmakers, two general stores, and a cabinetmaker.[2] Five Methodist ministers and one Baptist minister served the community.[2]
In 1861, Company G of the 14th Texas Voluntary Infantry of the Confederate States Army was raised in Jamestown. After the Civil War, the townspeople concentrated on growing and shipping cotton. In 1867 the Stebers donated two acres for a Methodist church. They had already established the Steber, Butler, and Company Storehouse.[2]
When the International-Great Northern Railroad built through Rusk County in 1873, Overton was established as a rail town. Company executives offered Overton town lots to area settlers, and Jamestown began to decline. In 1884 it had only a steam gristmill and a cotton gin, two physicians, and a teacher; by 1890 it lost a physician. As the town grew smaller, its school became the center of community activities. In 1903 a one-teacher school served Jamestown's 19 White students, while two one-teacher schools served its 157 Black students. That same year the post office was transferred to Overton. Though the population continued to be reported as 75, by 1936 a three-teacher elementary school, which served 84 Black students from the area, was all that remained at the site. By 1952 the Jamestown Independent School District had consolidated the local rural schools. A 1959 map showed only a church, a cemetery, and a few occupied houses at the site. The last business closed in 1964, and the next year only three dwellings and the Jamestown Cemetery remained. The school system had been absorbed by the Chapel Hill Independent School District. The final business in Jamestown closed in 1964.[4]
According to the official Texas Almanac, Jamestown no longer appears in maps of Texas.[5]
