Pottsville 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 ...

located in western Hamilton County in

Central Texas Central Texas is a region in the U.S. state of Texas roughly bordered on the west by San Saba, to the southeast by Bryan- College Station, the south by San Marcos and to the north by Hillsboro. Central Texas overlaps with and includes part ...

, United States.

History

Named for early settler John Potts, who was a shepherd, the community was founded as a

dry town In the United States, a dry county is a county whose local government forbids the sale of any kind of alcoholic beverages. Some prohibit off-premises sale, some prohibit on-premises sale, and some prohibit both. The vast majority of counties no ...

in 1872 when Edmund T. Goggin donated land for the townsite. A post office was established in 1879. Pottsville has undergone multiple catastrophes: every business was burned in a 1913 fire, and great damage was done by a 1944

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with the surface of Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, although the ...

, which killed one person. The local

cotton gin A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); ...

closed in 1931. The community had a population of 200 in 1947 and had four businesses. It went up to 312 in the 1980s with three churches, a feed store, a mill, a garage, a store, and a beauty parlor. It remained at 312 in 1990 and went down to 100 in 2000. Potts' friend, Thomas Jefferson Burks, built a store in the community in 1877. Mail was delivered to the community from Hamilton by a

mule The mule is a domestic equine hybrid between a donkey, and a horse. It is the offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). The horse and the donkey are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes; of the two ...

-drawn carriage and then by a horse-drawn carriage. The community burned again in 1922. Although Pottsville is unincorporated, it has a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

, with the ZIP code of 76565; the ZCTA for ZIP Code 76565 had a population of 142 at the 2000 census.

Geography

Pottsville lies at the intersection of Fm-218, 221, and 2842 on Cowhouse Creek, west of the city of

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

, southwest of

Fort Worth Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

, and northwest of

Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

in western Hamilton County.

Climate

The climate in this area is characterized by relatively high temperatures and evenly distributed precipitation throughout the year. The Köppen Climate System describes the weather as

humid subtropical A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between la ...

, and uses the abbreviation ''Cfa''.

Education

Pottsville is within the Hamilton Independent School District. The Pottsville Independent School District merged into the Hamilton district on July 1, 1989. Its first school was founded in 1876 and remained operational in 1986. It had an elementary and high school during that decade.

In popular culture

The Jim Thompson novel Pop. 1280 takes place in a fictional town of Pottsville.

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Hamilton County, Texas Unincorporated communities in Texas Populated places established in 1872 1872 establishments in Texas