DATURA, TEXAS. Datura, on Farm Road 1951 three miles south of Coolidge in northern Limestone County, appears to have formed in the late 1890s. A post office operated there from 1899 until sometime after 1930; Arthur C. Bayliss was the first postmaster. Datura became a shipping point for the Trinity and Brazos Valley Railway around 1900, and in 1902 the community had one store, operated by C. V. Reed. By 1914 the town reported a population of 100 and seven businesses. Its railroad line later became a part of the Burlington-Rock Island Railroad but was discontinued about 1935. In the mid-1940s Datura had a population of 100 and one business, and the 1948 county highway map showed two churches serving widely scattered rural residences in the area. In 1968 the Datura school was incorporated into the Mexia Independent School District, and by 1978 the community consisted of scattered dwellings and one business. Datura still existed in 1990. In 2000 the population was two.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ray A. Walter, A History of Limestone County (Austin: Von Boeckmann-Jones, 1959).
