GAY HILL, TEXAS (Fayette County). Gay Hill is on State Highway 71 six miles southeast of La Grange in eastern Fayette County. The settlement was named for James Gay, whose brother Thomas had established a Gay Hill community in Washington County. The Gay Hill in Fayette County grew around a plantation established during the days of the Republic of Texas.^qv The original community stretched along a low ridge that rose sharply to 370 feet above the broad Colorado River floodplain, which produced excellent crops of cotton and corn. Beginning in the 1960s the area excelled in producing grain, pecans, and improved pasture for cattle and horses. In 1986 the extended community included three cemeteries, St. Matthew's Church, and homes for twelve families.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: La Grange High School, Fayette County: Past and Present (La Grange, Texas, 1976). James L. Rock and W. I. Smith, Southern and Western Texas Guide for 1878 (St. Louis: Granger, 1878).

Jeff Carroll