TANGLEWOOD, TEXAS

(Not the sub-division in Houston)

Lee County, Central Texas S
Highway 77
5 miles N of Lexington on the way to Rockdale
About 25 miles N of Giddings the county seat
Population: 48 (2000)

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A closed grocery store in Tanglewood
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, August 2006

No Chamber
No Website
Not much of anything

Tanglewood's name, according to Lee County legend, comes from Tanglewood Tales - a book that was read by two local girls. How they convinced the town to adopt the name is anyone's guess.

The Reverend Hugh Wilson is credited with creating the first settlement here prior to the Civil War about the year 1856. The settlement got their own post office in 1880 and when the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad came through the area, it demonstrated it's inflexibility by not bending the one mile it would've taken to include the town on it's line. Tanglewood followed the familiar script and moved to the tracks rather than die.

The heyday of Tanglewood seemed to be right before WWI when the population was estimated at 100 Tanglewooders. By 1950 this number was reduced to only 40. The census of 1990 showed 48 people lived in Tanglewood.

We are told that there are some rotting timbers one mile east of Highway 77, which were once part of Old Tanglewood.

L - The Road North from Tanglewood
R - The road South from Tanglewood (including Harlington)
TE photos

Source: A History of Lee County by the Lee County Historical Survey Committee, Nortex, 1974

1920s map showing Tanglewood
in northern corner of Lee County
From Texas state map #10749
Courtesy Texas General Land Office

Tanglewood, Texas Area Destinations:
Giddings the county seat
Lexington | Rockdale

See Lee County
Milam County
Burleson County

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