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History in a Pecan
Shell
The town was named after Joseph Abbott, lawyer, teacher, judge,
and U. S. congressman for District Twenty (Ellis, Hill, Kaufman, and Navarro counties).
The Missouri, Kansas and Texas railroad arrived in 1881 and a post office
was opened the following year.
In the 1890s Abbott had two cotton gins,
and a gristmill as well as the essential businesses every small town needed. The
town had a series of fires (1897, 1903 and 1904) but rebuilt each time. An interurban
railway connecting Forth Worth
and Waco was established in 1913 - the same
year Abott was electrified.
In 1920 a paved highway was built and things
looked promising. But after the Great Depression arrived, the town became a flagstop
on the railroad. School enrollment was 240 in 1930 but with consolidations of
other schools - this increased to over 500.
From only 156 people in
1890, Abbott reached it's peak in 1914 with 713 citizens. By the start of WWII
there were only 264 people - not far from what it is today.
It is against
the law in Texas to mention Abbott without declaring
that Willie Nelson is from Abbott. Old-timers still remember Willie carrying his
guitar to school and one person we talked to reported that he thought that Willie's
sister played guitar better than he did. |
| Abbott
United Methodist and Baptist Churches |
| Abbott
Baptist Church historical marker |
| Abbott
United Methodist Church | |
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