RACCOON BEND, TEXAS. Raccoon Bend is located south of State Highway 159 about eight miles northeast of Bellville in northeastern Austin County. Settlement had taken place in this area west of the Brazos River by the early 1900s and the community experienced widespread growth when the Humble Oil and Refining Company found oil and gas wells and opened the Raccoon Bend oilfield in 1927. In the 1930s Raccoon Bend consisted of numerous homes, oil-related businesses, a school, and a church. Pleasant Grove Cemetery was also located in the area. The school had closed by the second half of the twentieth century. No population estimates were available until 2000, when the census reported 400 residents.

Laurie E. Jasinski