TOOL, TEXAS. Tool is on State Highway 274 west of Cedar Creek Reservoir and twenty-three miles northwest of Athens in northwestern Henderson County. Early settlers in the area were mainly farmers and included William Avant, who moved there in 1835. His son, Andrew Durham Avant, built the Durham Avant House on a small farm in Tool in 1899. Tradition has it that Tool was once named Hog Fork but that it was later renamed for George Tool, who in 1905 had the first store there. Post office records, however, do not indicate any name other than Tool. A post office operated there from 1901 to 1911. By 1945 Tool had 100 residents and four businesses, but by 1950 its population had fallen to forty. It remained at that level until the completion of nearby Cedar Creek Reservoir in 1965. By 1975, when the population was 300, old and new residents were politically divided over spending for public improvements. The relatively rapid population growth was due to Tool's proximity to Cedar Creek Reservoir. In 1980 its population was 1,039 and in 1990 it was 1,712. The population was 2,275 in 2000.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Vertical Files, Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.
