South Bosque

South Bosque is on the South Bosque River just south of U.S. Highway 84, eight miles northeast of McGregor in southwest central McLennan County. Though settlers began arriving in the area in the 1850s, the South Bosque post office was not established until 1872, when Solomon M. Johnson was appointed postmaster. In 1882 the Texas and St. Louis Railway laid track between Waco and Gatesville, passing through South Bosque. By 1890 the community had a steam cotton gin and gristmill, a general store, and twenty residents; cotton was the principal cash crop grown by area farmers. According to county school records, the South Bosque district school had forty-eight students and one teacher in 1896. Around 1900 oil was discovered to the northwest of South Bosque. The field proved to be fairly shallow and had a low daily output, but so many small wells were drilled that, although South Bosque did not become a boom town, the new industry did provide a small boost to the local economy. In 1914 South Bosque had two general stores, two groceries, and forty residents. The post office was discontinued in 1918, and mail for the community was sent to Waco. In the 1930s and 1940s South Bosque reported a population of eighty-nine; county highway maps from that time showed a business or two and a few scattered houses. By the late 1940s the South Bosque school district had been consolidated with the Hewitt district to form the Midway Independent School District. From the late 1960s to 1990 the population for South Bosque was estimated at eighty. By 2000 the population reached 500.