Funston

Grit is on State Highway 29 near Honey Creek six miles northwest of Mason in central Mason County. The area was settled around 1889 by cotton growers. Residents wanted to name the community after Maj. Gen. Frederick Funston of Spanish-American War fame, but had to change their minds when the post office was established, since there was already a Funston, Texas. The community was then named Grit, probably because of the area's gritty soil. The post office was established on June 29, 1901, with Lloyd P. Sanders as postmaster. Bob Sanders opened the first store around 1903, and the town once had a cotton gin operated by J. A. Westbrook and a blacksmith shop. In its early years, Grit was served by the Honey Creek school and church. The first Grit school was built in 1908, and a Baptist church was organized soon thereafter. The church met in the Grit school building until 1924, when a large tabernacle was built. Telephone service was established in the community by 1914. Grit's population was reported as thirty from the mid-1920s until 1968, when it was sixty-three. It continued to be reported at that level into the mid-1980s, but had dropped to thirty again by 1990. As of 1976 Grit consisted of a store, a post office, a community building, and scattered dwellings; by 1980 its post office had been discontinued, though the population was thirty in 1990. The population remained at thirty in 2000.

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.