Chatfield is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in northeastern

Navarro County Navarro County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 52,624. Its county seat is Corsicana. The county is named for José Antonio Navarro, a Tejano leader in the Texas Revolution who signed the T ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, United States, eleven miles northeast of

Corsicana Corsicana is a city in and the county seat of Navarro County, Texas, United States. It is located on Interstate 45, 50 miles southeast of Dallas. Its population was 25,109 at the 2020 census. Corsicana is considered an important agribusiness ce ...

. The community lies along

Farm to Market Road 1603 A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...

, just northeast of

Interstate 45 Interstate 45 (I-45) is a major Interstate Highway located entirely within the U.S. state of Texas. While most primary Interstate routes which have numbers ending in "5" are cross-country north–south routes, I-45 is comparatively short, ...

History

Chatfield was established as a trading post, on the San Antonio and Shreveport Trail, in an oak grove six miles west of Porter's Bluff, in 1838, and is named for pioneer Norman Chatfield. Other sources cite this pioneer's name as Champion Chatfield. Mr. Chatfield did not stay. The town was built up by a Captain Robert Hodge who moved from Kentucky to Texas. Captain Hodge purchased 1280 acres of land and moved his family to Chatfield in 1853. He was a successful plantation owner who built an antebellum home named "Hodge Oaks" in 1860. The "Hodge Oaks" house remained in the Hodge family until it was sold out of the family in 1993. At one time, Chatfield had a furniture manufacturing facility, a boarding school along with a number of cotton gins, a post office and stores. The population peaked at approximately 500 in the 1890s. The railroad bypassed Chatfield and instead, chose to go through

, located about 15 miles southwest of Chatfield. This likely played a role in preventing further growth in the commerce and population of Chatfield.

Notable people

* Sutton E. Griggs, author and

Baptist minister Baptists are a denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers ( believer's baptism) and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches generally subscribe to the doctrines of ...

. *U.S. Army General

Lucian Truscott General (United States), General Lucian King Truscott Jr. (9 January 1895 – 12 September 1965) was a highly decorated senior United States Army Officer (armed forces), officer, who saw distinguished Active duty, active service during World War ...

was born in Chatfield in 1895. *Will Coleman, believed to be the first African-American to practice veterinary medicine in Texas.

Geography

Chatfield is in northeastern Navarro County, located at (32.24100, -96.41150).

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Navarro County, Texas Unincorporated communities in Texas 1838 establishments in the Republic of Texas