Located on Farm Road 635, twenty miles southeast of Corsicana in Navarro County Texas. Rural Shade was first settled in 1850 by several families including the Ingrams, Owens, Austins, Wilsons and Sears. A post office was established there in 1858. Around 1870 James Ingram built the first steam-powered gristmills in the area. By 1885 Rural Shade consisted of a blacksmith shop, a sawmill, three gristmills, three general stores, four cotton gins, and an estimated population of twenty-five. Two schools were in operation by 1906, with a total enrollment of 145. During the 1930s, Rural Shade included a school, two churches, and five or six stores. After World War II its school was consolidated with the Kerens school, and the stores closed. By the mid 1960s only a church and a number of scattered houses remained. In 1990 Rural Shade was a dispersed rural community.

Indexex:

• Rural Shade Photographs Indexes
• Rural Shade Religion Index
• Rural Shade Schools Index

See Also:

• History of Rural Shade
• Hamilton-Beeman Cemetery