Cottonwood, Somervell County, Texas

Cottonwood, Texas
Unincorporated community
Cottonwood, Texas Show map of Texas Cottonwood, Texas Show map of the United States
Coordinates: 32°11′28″N 97°53′21″W
Country	United States
State	Texas
County	Somervell
Elevation [1]	1,037 ft (316 m)
Time zone	UTC-6 (Central (CST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5 (CDT)
ZIP code	76043
Area code	254
GNIS feature ID	1333435[1]

Cottonwood is an unincorporated community in western Somervell County, Texas. It is located off of Farm to Market Road 51 and is about nine miles southwest of Glen Rose.[2]

History

Land ownership map of Somervell County. Land owned by Dan Shipman, one of the founders of the church, is located on the western side

The community was built around the Friendship Missionary Baptist Church of Christ, later renamed the Cottonwood Baptist Church. Following an open meeting in August 1874, residents from the area decided to build a log cabin that would serve as a church.[2] The church was organized in 1875 by six settlers from the county- Daniel, Eliza, and Sarah Shipman, Solomon and Sally Sutton, and B.M. McFaddin. In its first year, the church had an attendance of eight, Ten years later, in 1880, that number grew to sixty.[3]

A school served the community by the early 1900s and continued through the 1930s. It was integrated into the Glen Rose Independent School District in the mid-1940s. The community had a population of twenty-four from 1970 to the mid-2000s. The church is still in operation.[2]

References

1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Cottonwood, Somervell County, Texas
2. Jasinski, Laurie E. "Cottonwood, TX (Somervell County)". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
3. "Our Church History". Cottonwood Baptist Church. Retrieved August 9, 2020.