AUSTONIA, TEXAS. Austonia (Astonia, Astoria) is on Farm Road 984 fifteen miles southeast of Waxahachie in southern Ellis County. Thomas Alston built the first house in the community in 1876 and became the first postmaster when Astonia received a post office in 1879 in his general store. Baptist, Methodist, and Christian groups shared a union church there, and forty students attended school in the church building. In 1890 Astonia had a population of ten, several businesses, three churches, and a school. In 1900 the post office was moved to Rankin, a mile to the west. In the 1980s the community appeared on maps as Austonia, but only the Austonia church and cemetery remained in the area.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Edna Davis Hawkins et al., History of Ellis County, Texas (Waco: Texian, 1972).

Lisa C. Maxwell