I find it interesting that many Michigan towns and settlements that sported the name of one of our other states have disappeared – fallen by the wayside for one reason or another. Here’s another one.
In Kalamazoo County, there was once a little settlement by the name of Texas. It was settled almost 200 years ago – in 1829 – by William Bishop. As the 1830s rolled on, more people came here to settle. In 1844 it finally became necessary to open a post office. The first post office was within a stagecoach stop, and it took another thirty years before an official government post office opened up. That one began operating in June 1874.
As for why it was named Texas: you can thank the Texas Revolution that occurred between the land settlers and Mexico from 1835-1836. This included the battle at the Alamo that took place in the early months of 1836. Later that year, the independent Republic of Texas was established, and later that year in celebration of that victory, this particular township in Kalamazoo County named itself ‘Texas’. The state of Texas finally gained statehood in 1845.
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The Kalamazoo County settlement & post office named itself ‘Texas’ after the township until the post office permanently closed in 1901. With that, the community failed any future growth…