History

History of Navasota

In 1822, Francis Holland purchased land located on a bend of the Navasota River in southeastern Grimes County. The site of present day Navasota was named Hollandale in honor of its original settler. More settlers followed Holland to the area. In 1831, Daniel Arnold, a Georgia planter, applied for and received a land grant along the Navasota River. Soon after, Daniel Tyler received a land grant in the same vicinity. Navasota was built on sections of these two Montgomery County land grants. The county was divided in 1846, and Navasota became part of Grimes County.

Texas Historical Commission Listings

Joseph Brooks Home: 612 East Washington Avenue Marker Number: 8566 Year Marker Erected: 1981
A native of England, Joseph Brooks (1831-89) migrated to Texas with his wife Mary Ann (Farrer) (1833-1900) in 1853. After serving in the Civil War, Brooks moved to Navasota, where he survived an 1867 yellow fever epidemic and became a leading area lumberman. In the 1870s he had this home built for his family. Originally Victorian in design, it was modified with classical revival detailing in 1909-11 by the Brooks’ daughter Mary Elizabeth Brooks Salyer.

Evans House: 412 Manley Street Marker Number: 8572 Year Marker Erected: 1991
Newlyweds John Thomas and Maude Martin Evans built this house in 1894 on land given to them by his mother. A ticket agent for the International and Great Northern Railway Company, Evans also served the city of Navasota as alderman and city treasurer. The typical 19th-century vernacular house features a gable roof, and a three-bay porch with elaborate balustrade, turned wood posts, spindle work frieze, and jig-sawn brackets.

First Baptist Church of Navasota: 309 Church Street Marker Number: 8574 Year Marker Erected: 1977
In the spring of 1860, six men formed this church, one of the first of any faith in the railroad town of Navasota. By fall there were 52 members, and growth continued. Services were held in the town’s schoolhouse, and then in a Methodist church, until the Baptists received a site as a gift from the Houston & Texas Central Railway, and built a small frame sanctuary about 1872. A permanent edifice of native stone was started after Mrs. A. E. Baten, wife of the pastor, drew plans in 1889. Funds came from members and nonmembers, sometimes as donations of cattle, and a 46’ x 67’ x 37’ x 67’ stone building with a steeple was completed in 1890. By 1925 more room was needed; a 2-story annex was constructed. Although a new, larger sanctuary was erected in 1955, the 1890 building is still used. In 1969, it was converted into a fellowship hall, DayTrippinTexas.com and after a disastrous fire the next year was restored in 1971. The congregation-- now numbering more than 900 members-- founded and financed one local mission that became self-supporting, and now underwrites another. During the church’s first 116 years, it has been served by 35 pastors

The Giesel House: 113 Railroad Street Marker Number: 8581 Year Marker Erected: 1977
Situated near the Houston & Texas Central Railroad Depot, this three-story stone building was erected in 1860 by R. H. Giesel (1833-1872) and his German-born wife Fannie (1828-1881) to house a restaurant and hotel. A two-story frame porch originally extended across the front of the structure. Giesel, a Confederate veteran, served as temporary mayor in 1867, when a yellow fever epidemic struck Navasota. Fannie Giesel renamed her restaurant “The Good Morning John” in 1871. She managed the business until her death in 1881. Later owners operated the hotel as “The Exchange” and “The Hoyle”.

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