ARNETT, TEXAS (Coryell County). Arnett is on U.S. Highway 84 in west central Coryell County, nine miles west of Gatesville. The site was settled in the 1880s, and Arnett was supposedly named by a man named Johnson for a friend of his who lived in the vicinity. An Arnett post office, with John T. Taylor as postmaster, was in operation from 1903 until 1906, when mail was rerouted to Gatesville. In 1940 local businesses dealt mainly in farm implements and general merchandise and served an estimated population of 100. By the mid-1950s the number of residents had dwindled to fifty, and the Arnett school district had been consolidated with that of Gatesville. By the 1980s Arnett residents were largely dependent on Gatesville for schools, churches, and stores. In 2000 the population was twenty.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Coryell County Genealogical Society, Coryell County, Texas, Families, 1854-1985 (Dallas: Taylor, 1986).

Zelma Scott