Eureka Community

EUREKA, TEXAS (Navarro County). Eureka is at the junction of U.S. Highway 287 and Farm roads 637 and 3243, eleven miles southeast of Corsicana in southeastern Navarro County. The settlement developed around a log schoolhouse known as Dunn's School just before the Civil War.^qv In 1870 residents applied for a post office, and at a Grange^qv meeting decided on the name Eureka. That same year a post office was opened in the home of P. Anderson, and within a few years a small town grew up there. By 1885 Eureka reported several steam gristmills and cotton gins, two churches, a district school, and an estimated population of twenty-five. In 1914 its population was about 100. Three local schools were in operation by 1906-two for white students, with a total enrollment of eighty-five, and one for black students, with an enrollment of sixty-one. In the mid-1930s Eureka had a school and six businesses. The Eureka school was consolidated with that of Mildred after World War II.^qv The community's population continued to be estimated at about 100 until the mid-1960s, when it was reported as 125. At that time two churches and several businesses still remained at Eureka. In the early 1990s Eureka was a dispersed rural community with an estimated population of 243.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Annie Carpenter Love, History of Navarro County (Dallas: Southwestern, 1933). Wyvonne Putman, comp., Navarro County History (5 vols., Quanah, Texas: Nortex, 1975-84). Alva Taylor, History and Photographs of Corsicana and Navarro County (Corsicana, Texas, 1959; rev. ed., Navarro County History and Photographs, Corsicana, 1962).

Christopher Long

"EUREKA, TX." The Handbook of Texas Online.

In the 1850s a settlement grew up just south of the present Eureka called Dunn's Schoolhouse. Early settlers in the latter location were the Meeks, Garlics, Hammonds, Dunns, Blevins and Andersons. Later the community's name was changed to "Eureka," and a post office established in 1870. Hopewell Baptist Church was also located in this area.

Statistics & Facts:

The population of Eureka is approximately 242 (as of 2001)
The approximate number of families is 105 (as of 2001)
The amount of surface water is 0.001 sq kilometers
The distance from Eureka to Washington DC is 1220 miles. The distance to the Texas state capital is 146 miles. (as the crow flies)
Eureka is positioned 32.00 degrees north of the equator and 96.28 degrees west of the prime meridian
The amount of land area in Eureka is 6.217 sq. kilometers

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