BEREA, TEXAS (Bell County). Berea was a post office and school community on Farm Road 2483 five miles north of Belton in central Bell County. The settlement, named for a biblical Middle Eastern city, began in 1868 when pioneers from Georgia purchased land and built log cabins in the fertile area on Pepper's Creek. A one-room house provided a place for the community gatherings, school, and worship. Rev. Roder Bauchman was the first teacher and preacher. The post office opened in 1895, was consolidated with Belton for a time in 1897, and was consolidated permanently with Belton in 1902. The Berea school had sixty-four pupils and one teacher in 1903. In 1948 the community consisted of a school, a church, and scattered dwellings, but Berea had disappeared from the state highway map by 1988.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bell County Historical Commission, Story of Bell County, Texas (2 vols., Austin: Eakin Press, 1988).
