LARUE, TEXAS. Larue is on U.S. Highway 175 and Farm roads 2588 and 607, twelve miles southeast of Athens in southeastern Henderson County. The first settlement in the area was named Morrison Chapel in 1884 by J. M. Shelby, H. D. Morrison, Thomas Dunklin, and Jesse and R. B. Warren. The community was moved to the present site in 1901, when the Texas and New Orleans Railroad designated the location as a twelve-mile station and named it for Joseph T. La Rue of Athens, who was instrumental in acquiring the right-of-way in the county. The railroad was the economic mainstay of the town, which peaked at a population of more than 400 between the 1920s and 1940s. The decline of the railroad and the construction of U.S. Highway 175, which improved access to Athens, led to the decline of Larue. In 1988 the town had a post office, eleven businesses, two churches, and a population of 160. The population remained the same through 2000.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. J. Faulk, History of Henderson County (Athens, Texas: Athens Review Printing, 1929). Henderson County Historical Commission, Family Histories of Henderson County, Texas, 1846-1981 (Dallas: Taylor, 1981).

Estelle Corder