Prairie View

Nogalus Prairie, also known as Nogallis Prairie, Nogalus, and Prairie View, is a farming community on Farm Road 357 thirteen miles northeast of Groveton in northeastern Trinity County. The community, originally known as Prairie View, was first settled in the 1850s by planters from Georgia and Alabama. In 1858 a post office opened under the name Nogallis Prairie. Local lore suggests that the name originated when two horse thieves were hung from the branch of a large tree; the community became known as "Nogallows," but when the post office was established, the spelling was changed to Nogallis and later to Nogalus. The post office continued to operate intermittently through the early 1860s but was closed in 1868. It reopened in 1894 under the name Nogalus. From about 1900 to 1918 the community had a Methodist church, several stores, a cotton gin, a saw and grist mill, and a Woodmen of the World hall. After World War I it began to decline. Its post office closed in 1920, and by the mid-1930s only a church, a store, and a few families remained. The population was twenty in the mid-1960s; most of the residents earned their livings from farming, ranching, or forestry. In the early 1990s Nogalus Prairie was a dispersed rural community. The reported population in 1990 was forty-one. The population was 109 in 2000.

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Christopher Long | © TSHA

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

Belongs to

Prairie View is part of or belongs to the following places:

Currently Exists

No

Place type

Prairie View is classified as a Town

Associated Names

  • (Nogalus Prairie)

Has Post Office

No

Is Incorporated

No