Site of Old Town of Augusta

Augusta's population ran from 200 in 1885 to 250 in 1936, then collapsed: 120 in the 1940s and twenty by 1952, a figure the Handbook of Texas still reports for 1990 and 2000. By 1885 the town had a Union church, a district school, steam cotton gins, grist and corn mills and three general stores. W. M. Waddell taught at the Augusta Male and Female Academy in 1860. The Handbook credits Daniel McLean, a member of the Gutiérrez-Magee expedition, with what is thought to be the first home there, in 1821.

What the plaque says

Site of Old Town of Augusta Settled 1821 by frontiersman Daniel McLean and brother-in-law John Sheridan. Aldrich, Davis, Edens, Kyle, Maden and Wilson families soon located here also. Indian troubles included Edens-Madden Massacre and killings of McLean and Sheridan during the 1830s. Ioni (later Augusta) Lodge No. 93, A.F.&A.M., was organized in 1852. Community was "Boston" until post office, established in 1857, was named for the daughter of Capt. John T. Smith. The town had a male and female academy and about 24 stores and shops. Ranching and forestry replaced the original cotton economy. (1971)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Caddo Mounds State Historic Site — 12 mi
  Three earthen mounds of an ancestral Caddo village and ceremonial center on the old El Camino Real, settled about A.D. 800 and still sacred to Caddo people, with a grass house and visitor center.
• Texas State Railroad Excursion Train — 20 mi
  A round trip of about 25 miles of track between the Palestine and Rusk depots through the Piney Woods, on a line built by prison labor and reopened as a tourist railroad in 1976.

More markers nearby

• Daniel McLean and John Sheridan — steps away
• The Edens-Madden Massacre — steps away
• John and Lucinda Nugent Sheridan — 0.3 mi
• Waneta Community and School — 2.8 mi