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Colton, TX https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/colton-tx

History of Colton, Texas: From Cotton to Colton

By: Claudia Hazlewood

Published: 1952

Updated: December 1, 1994

Colton, seven miles southeast of Austin in Travis County, was established by the McKenzie family about 1866. The community was first called Cotton, in reference to the area's staple crop, but its name was changed to Colton when the local post office opened in 1897. At that time Colton had a small store and ten to fifteen residents. Its post office was discontinued in 1902, and its mail was sent to Creedmoor. Colton had twenty-five residents in 1933 and fifty in 1939; its population was still reported as fifty in 2000.

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Bibliography:

Mary Starr Barkley, History of Travis County and Austin, 1839–1899 (Waco: Texian Press, 1963). John J. Germann and Myron Janzen, Texas Post Offices by County (1986).

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The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry.

Claudia Hazlewood, “Colton, TX,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed April 11, 2026, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/colton-tx.

TID: HNC81

Original Publication Date:
1952
Most Recent Revision Date:
December 1, 1994