LaGrange

Madras, five miles northeast of Clarksville in central Red River County, was called LaGrange in the 1830s. Its early settlers included James L. Latimer, Albert H. Latimer, and Robert Hamilton. When LaGrange was unsuccessful in an election to secure the county seat in 1835, it died as a town. In the early 1870s Thomas J. Dozier established a general store and named the site Madras when he secured a post office in 1887. The population was 100 in 1910; in 1920 two stores and a population of fifty-four were reported. The post office was discontinued in 1925, and mail was sent to Clarksville. Two businesses and a population of forty were reported in 1940. In 1984 Madras had a church, a cemetery, a community hall, and a few widely scattered houses. By 2000 the population reached sixty-one.