PRIDDY, TEXAS. Priddy, on State Highway 16 and Farm Road 218 in northeast Mills County, was named for Thomas Jefferson Priddy, a pioneer Baptist preacher and Texas Ranger. The first homes in the community were built in the early 1880s, primarily by German settlers. Priddy became the first postmaster in 1892. Growth was slow, and in 1910 the community had a store, a gin, and a population of sixty. The population was 170 in 1930, 150 in 1947, and 215 in 1980 through 2000.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Flora Gatlin Bowles, A No Man's Land Becomes a County (Austin: Steck, 1958).

William R. Hunt