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HEXT,
TEXAS Menard
County, Texas Hill Country
Highway 29 and FM 1221
16 miles East of Menard
21 miles West of Mason
55 miles West of Llano
131 miles NW of Austin via Hwy 71
Estimated Population: 60
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| The
Hext Post Office
TE Photo, 2000 |
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History
in a Pecan Shell
According to the Handbook of Texas - Hext
was settled in the 1870s and was known by the name Maringo or Merrengo. It was
renamed in the 1890s for one Joseph Robert Hext. The post office was established
in 1897 which made the name permanent.
Hext hit its high-water mark
about 1914 when it reportedly had 125 people, a cotton gin, a hotel and two general
stores. The estimated population was 40 in the mid-20s and after WWII it rose
to about 60 where it remains today. |
Hext
former school
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, August 2006 |
Former
church in Hext
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, August 2006 |
There wasn't too
much to say about Hext - until we received the letter below from one of Mr. Hext's
descendants.
Letters
from Descendants
I
was very pleased to see the site about Hext, Texas, named after my Great Grandfather
Joseph Robert Hext.
Most people knew him as Bob. He was born Aug. 31
1859 near Cherokee Texas to Joseph Bruten Hext and Sarah Ann Salyer Hext. Joseph
Bruten was born in South Carolina and moved to Texas in 1844.
At the
time Bob was born the Indians were still quite a problem and several skirmishes
with raiding parties took place around the area. This problem continued until
into the 1870's.
Bob and his brother James moved to start up ranching
some twenty mile north of Loundon Texas some time in the late 1880's and family
history claims they had quite a large bit of land. Within a few years the partnership
dissolved and James "Jim" moved his family to Oklahoma.
My Grandfather,
Ben Hext, was born in Hext in August of 1895. His stories often told of how Bob
gave away or traded large pieces of his ranch either because of his inability
to care for it or through great generosity. We like to believe the generosity
story. After his wife, Leetie Anderson, died in 1926 he lived with Ben and his
wife Ruth Turner Hext and my father, Joe, in Eldorado Tx. until his death in 1941.
He is buried in Eldorado.
When the area residents decided to try and
establish a post office in 1895, they found the name Maringo was already taken
and decided to use the name Hext either to honor one of the first settlers in
the area or because the name Hext was surly not in use elsewhere.
I think
that my grandfather, Ben, who was also a rancher, often lamented about "loosing"
so much land before he had grown up enough to take over the cattle business. My
family often visited the little town in the late 50's as some of the family still
lived there and it was by then almost a ghost town, having only 30 or so in population.
Thank you for the site and I hope this background can be of help. -
Bryan Hext, December 17, 2002 | |
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