Honey Grove

Honey Grove is on U.S. Highway 82 fifteen miles east of Bonham in east central Fannin County. The first Anglo-Americans who settled in the area arrived from Tennessee in 1842. Within a few years a community developed on a rise that provided residents a view of the surrounding countryside, timber on one side and prairie on the other. Near the site in a grove was an apiary from which the community received its name. In 1846 a post office branch opened to serve the growing community. A decade later the population of Honey Grove reached 300. Residents voted to incorporate in 1873. By the mid-1880s the tracks of the Texas and Pacific Railway had reached the community. The railroad established Honey Grove as a retail center and shipping point for area farmers. In 1890 it had a population of 3,000, 100 businesses, seven churches, two schools, two banks, and two weekly newspapers. By the 1890s a prosperous stone quarry was operating just outside the town. The population of Honey Grove in 1914 was 2,800. By the eve of World War I an ice and light plant and a third bank had opened in the city. Subsequently, the population steadily decreased. By the end of World War II Honey Grove had a population of 2,500 and seventy-four businesses. In 1988 it had a reported 1,861 residents and twenty-five businesses and was the second largest town in Fannin County. In 1990 the population was 1,681, and in 2000 it was 1,746.