Hamshire, Texas
Encyclopedia
Hamshire is an unincorporated community
Unincorporated area
In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 in western Jefferson County
Jefferson County, Texas
Jefferson County is a county located in the state of Texas, United States. As of 2000, the population was 252,051. Its county seat is Beaumont, and it is named for the former U.S...

, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It is part of the Beaumont
Beaumont, Texas
Beaumont is a city in and county seat of Jefferson County, Texas, United States, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's population was 118,296 at the 2010 census. With Port Arthur and Orange, it forms the Golden Triangle, a major industrial area on the...

Port Arthur
Port Arthur, Texas
-Demographics:As of the 2000 census, there were 57,755 people, 21,839 households, and 14,675 families residing in the city. The population density was 696.5 people per square mile . There were 24,713 housing units at an average density of 298.0 per square mile...

 Metropolitan Statistical Area
Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area
The Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Area is defined by the United States Census Bureau as a three-county region in Southeast Texas, east of the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area. The area is also known as the Golden Triangle...

. Hamshire, commonly referred to by some of its inhabitants as "Hamshire, America", is on State Highway 124
State Highway 124 (Texas)
State Highway 124 or SH 124 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Texas maintained by the Texas Department of Transportation . The highway begins along the Gulf Coast near the northeast end of the Bolivar Peninsula at and extends to the northeast ending at and . In between, the highway has...

 twenty miles southwest of Beaumont. It was probably named for Lovan Hamshire, who developed the land as early as the 1870s. Hamshire was on the Gulf and Interstate Railway with a post office being established there in 1897. A townsite plat was filed in 1911 by Theodore F. Koch. Another major land dealer, Herbert Roedenbeck, subdivided additional land south of the railroad later that year, giving the subdivision the name Hamshire Gardens. Although there was interest shown by local rice farmers, Hamshire had only fifty inhabitants as of 1928. The Fannett
Fannett, Texas
Fannett is an unincorporated town in Jefferson County, Texas, United States, about 15 miles southwest of Beaumont. It is part of the Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area. The community is named after B. J. Fannett, a local landowner who opened a general store there in the 1890s...

 (1927) and Stowell
Stowell, Texas
Stowell is a census-designated place in Chambers County, Texas, United States The population was 1,572 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Stowell is located at ....

 (1941) oil fields discovery initiated new development in western Jefferson County
Jefferson County, Texas
Jefferson County is a county located in the state of Texas, United States. As of 2000, the population was 252,051. Its county seat is Beaumont, and it is named for the former U.S...

. As of 1940, the population in Hamshire had grown to 200. Natural gas
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...

 production at the Hamshire field also continued to be of major importance to the community's economy through the 1980s. By 1985 the community had an estimated 350 residents and twenty-two businesses. In 1990 the population remained an estimated 350.

In 1961, the Hamshire-New Holland Independent School District was combined with that of neighboring Fannett
Fannett, Texas
Fannett is an unincorporated town in Jefferson County, Texas, United States, about 15 miles southwest of Beaumont. It is part of the Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area. The community is named after B. J. Fannett, a local landowner who opened a general store there in the 1890s...

, forming the Hamshire-Fannett Independent School District
Hamshire-Fannett Independent School District
Hamshire-Fannett Independent School District is a public school district based in the Hamshire community of unincorporated Jefferson County, Texas, United States. The district was formed in 1961 by the consolidation of Hamshire-New Holland I.S.D...

which currently serves area students.

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