Ghost Town - Owensville, Texas
As we drove from Texas to the Perkins Reunion in Louisiana, my grandmother told us a story about her grandmother, Emily Winburn Perkins. Emily's parents, John B. and Martha (Jackson) Winburn, were moving from Florida to Texas. They had stopped for a while in Sugartown, Louisiana. Spencer A. Perkins guided the Winburns and later became her father-in-law when she married his son, John Hollingsworth Perkins. Sugartown would later become her home, but at this time, Owensville, Texas, was their final destination.
Owensville was established in 1855 and became Robertson County's third county seat in 1856. [1] The town was on the Houston-Waco mail, stage, and freighting road. After the courthouse was built, public officials' families became its first residents, and a post office and jail followed. Soon doctors, lawyers, teachers, farmers, and ranchers arrived, too. At its peak, the town had more than 300 families! They built a mercantile store. Later came another general store. They built two schools (one of which was an academy that contained 24 students), and a fine hotel served visitors. Plans called for a railroad stop in Owensville. [2] In Samuel L. Harrison's family history manuscript, Emily proudly tells her grandchildren that her father, John B. Winburn, helped found the Owensville Baptist Church, and that she was invited to the 50th reunion! [3]
But during Reconstruction, Owensville started its downward slide. It had already lost many men in the Civil War, and the railroad bypassed it for another town. The final blow came in 1868, when the county seat was forcefully moved to Calvert. Owensville lost its post office in 1897, and by 1900 the town was gone. Only a memory remains near the crossroads of Farm-to-Market Roads 46 and 388. [4]
- James L. Hailey, "Owensville, TX," Handbook of Texas Online, TSHA (https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/owensville-tx : accessed 1 October 2026).
- "Owensville, A Seat of Robertson County Government," Robertson County, Texas, TXGenWeb (http://www.countygenweb.com/txrobertson/books/GhostTownsOwensville.htm : accessed 2 October 2026).
- Samuel L. Harrison, "Clan Perkins of Sugartown, Louisiana," manuscript, Louisiana, 1964; Perkins Family Reunion, privately held by author [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], 2026. A cousin of mine sent a copy of the manuscript around 1986.
- James L. Hailey, "Owensville, TX," Handbook of Texas Online, TSHA (https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/owensville-tx : accessed 1 October 2026).
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