Whitsett

Whitsett is at the intersection of U.S. Highway 281 and Farm Road 99, on the Missouri Pacific Railroad fifteen miles north of Three Rivers in northwest Live Oak County. It was on land granted to John Houlihan. When the railroad came through the county in 1913, the land for the town was donated by Taylor Whitsett and Walter Reiffert. Each wanted his name used for the town so Reiffert tossed a coin, and Whitsett called it and won. In 1913 cattle pens were built at the site by the railroad, and a lumberyard and hardware store, a general store, and a post office opened. In the 1920s the town also produced honey and had two cotton gins. In 1925 a new school was built west of the railroad, and in 1932 paving was begun on what is now Highway 281. The highway was the Old Spanish Trail, then Texas Highway 66, Highway 9, and finally U.S. Highway 281. By 1938 the Whitsett school had four teachers and sixty-one students. In that same year Jess Ray Pullin installed a one-cylinder diesel engine in his machine shop that provided electricity for the community until 1943, when the Rural Electrification Association connected with Whitsett. The Whitsett school was annexed to the Three Rivers Independent School District in 1949. In 1933 an oil refinery was built in Whitsett to process oil from the surrounding area, but it was abandoned soon after. In the 1970s the oil business revived. Oil and uranium were extracted nearby. Farming also increased. The population was 280 in 1940 and 350 in 1982. The completion of Choke Canyon Dam in 1986 was expected to increase Whitsett's population, but in 1990 the population remained at 350. The population dropped to 200 in 2000.

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.