Russelltown is an unincorporated community in Cameron County, Texas, United States.[1] It is located within the Rio Grande Valley and the Brownsville-Harlingen metropolitan area.
History
The area in what is known as Russelltown today was first settled sometime before 1800, when Mexican ranchers built adobe structures here. No further settlement took place until after the Civil War.
The community itself was founded when the railroad built a track through the area in 1910. It developed into an agricultural center upon the arrival of nurseries in 1904 and irrigation in 1910. The 1936 county highway map named the town Barreda and showed a few scattered dwellings in the area. Frank and Martha Russell came to the community that next year and bought 5,000 acres (2,000 ha) of land in the Rio Grande Palms Water District.
It was renamed Russelltown for the couple in 1939, but was still named Barreda until 1948.[clarification needed] It remained an agricultural shipping point in 1947 and had 100 residents. Russelltown lost half of its population by 1991. The community was a center for ranching, farming, sugarcane, and aquaculture. There were no population estimates in 2000.[2]
Geography
Russelltown is located at the intersection of Texas State Highway 100 and U.S. Route 83 in Texas/77 on the Missouri Pacific Railroad, 12 miles (19 km) northwest of Brownsville in southern Cameron County.[2]
Education
Russelltown had its own school in 1947.[2] Today, the community is served by the Brownsville Independent School District. Children in the community attend Villa Nueva Elementary School, Stillman Middle School, and Veterans Memorial Early College High School.
References
