Switch

Jester is eleven miles southwest of Corsicana in west central Navarro County. It was established as a stop on the St. Louis and Southwestern Railway just after the railroad built through the area in the 1880s. The community was originally known as Switch, but when a post office opened there in 1899 the name was changed to Jester, after George Taylor Jester, a resident of Corsicana who served as lieutenant governor around that time. A school was in operation there by 1900, and in 1906 it had an enrollment of forty-seven. The Jester post office closed in 1909, reopened in 1923, and closed again sometime after 1930. In the mid-1930s Jester reported a population of ten and had a store, a church, and a few houses. After World War II its store and church closed, and its school was consolidated with that of Purdon. By the mid-1960s Jester was no longer shown on highway maps of the area. In 1990 only a few scattered houses remained there.

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.