History Of Arcola, Texas

October 14, 2011

History in Pecan Shell
David Fitzgerald, one of the original Austin settlers known as the “Old Three Hundred”, was granted land here in 1822.  In the 1840’s it was acquired by Jonathan Dawson Waters, who made it one of the largest cotton and sugar plantations in Texas, naming it Arcola.
After the Civil War the Houston Tap Railroad arrived and with Walter’s death, the land was sold to Colonel T. W. House of Houston.  The community of Arcola was predominantly made up of former slaves of the Arcola Plantation.  The town had a post office granted in 1869 which closed and reopened before closing for good in 1920.  The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe railroad arrived in 1878 and by 1884 Arcola was thriving with two combination grist and cotton gins, several basic business and two segregated schools.  By 1914 Arcola’s population was a mere 50 with a single store.  It grew to 120 by 1949, and in 1990 reached 665.