Noxville, Texas

Latitude:

Longitude:

Noxville is located on Farm Road 479 and the James River, twenty-one miles east of Junction in southeastern Kimble County.

History

Creed Taylor, one of the first Anglo settlers in the area, built a two-story stone house on the James River in 1869. In the early 1870s Munroe McDonald, James H. Parker, and Noah Nox settled 4½ miles east of Taylor on the Little Devils River. Nox, who moved to Kimble County from Illinois, ran a store that in December 1879 became the first Noxville post office. His wife, Persis, was the first postmistress. Early residents farmed irrigated land. The Noxville school, probably built in 1880, was the first stone school in the county. In 1884 it was part of the Devils River school district. Classes were held there until 1940, when the area became part of the Harper (Gillespie County) School District. As late as 1968 the old school was used as a voting place for the fourth precinct of Kimble County. In December 1911 Jason A. Milan became the Noxville postmaster and moved the post office-general store-and therefore the town-west to the James River. In 1927 the new Noxville had a store and gas station that served the nearby farms and ranches. The post office was closed in 1942, but the store and gas station may have stayed in business until the 1950s. Noxville generally had a population of fifteen or fewer until 1974, when it was estimated at seventy-five. In 1990 it was estimated at three. The population remained the same in 2000.

Old Noxville School. Erected about 1880. Used as a school until the district was consolidated with Harper, 1940. Native limestone was quarried nearby, laid by local people including Noah Nox (who founded Noxville), Will Lennon, Lafayette McDonald, J. H. Parker and sons. Nearby (about 300 yds. W) were a post office and store, run by Nox and wife. Building now serves as a polling place for Precinct 4. Noxville cemetery is located across the creek (600 yds. NE). Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1968. Marker location: 29 miles E of Junction Via FM 479 on CR just E of little Devil's River; school is about 1/2 down CR.