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AUSTONIO,
TEXASHouston County,
East Texas
Highway 21
14 Miles SW of Crockett
Population 37 (est
since 1990) |
History
in a Pecan Shell
Originally called Pearville, the name
wasn't popular with residents and so they held a contest in 1930. Ruth Tucker
won the contest with the name Austonio - an amalgam of Austin
and San Antonio. The fact that
the town is easily 250 miles from either city evidently didn't count. A post office
was granted in 1932 and in 1940 there were 150 people to call Austonio home. The
decline set in after WWII
and school consolidation with Lovelady in 1964
shattered any hopes of regaining population. The post office closed its doors
in 1971, followed by the other stores that closed one by one. |
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