Boz-Bethel

Boz is on Farm Road 1493 five miles southwest of Waxahachie in southwestern Ellis County. Its settlement occurred sometime in the late 1880s or early 1890s. It had a post office from 1891 to 1906. Throughout much of its history Boz was a school and church community of area farmers. In the mid-1930s it had seventy-five residents and three businesses. Its school closed in 1943. In 1986 the community reported fifteen residents, but probably more resided in the immediate vicinity. The Bethel Methodist Church in Boz was the set for several scenes in the movie Places in the Heart (1984). In 1989 the community's remaining residents feared their town's ultimate destruction since the federal government had selected Ellis County as the site for the proposed superconducting supercollider. In 1990 the population of Boz was still reported as fifteen, but by 1992, as plans for the supercollider continued, eighty-four-year-old Monnie Bratcher was the only remaining resident. The superconductor project was canceled not long afterward.

Adapted from the official Handbook of Texas, a state encyclopedia developed by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). It is an authoritative source of trusted historical records.