AUBURN, TEXAS. Auburn was sixteen miles southwest of Waxahachie in western Ellis County. Some of its first settlers were from a caravan of 105 covered wagons that originated in Arkansas in 1852. They were attracted by the water supply from the nearby North Fork of Chambers Creek, the flat and tillable land suitable for crops and livestock, and the climate. Jerry Files opened a general store at Auburn. By 1890 the community had a population of 290; by 1900 it had two cotton gins, a corn mill, a blacksmith shop, and two grocery stores. Four church congregations met regularly-Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, and Disciples of Christ. A two-story building, McCarver Chapel, housed a grade school on the first floor and a Masonic lodge on the second floor. An Auburn post office opened in 1877 and operated until 1906, when the mail was rerouted through Maypearl. In 1865 Rezia (or Rezi) Jarvis Banks deeded land to the trustees of the Methodist church, to be used as the site for a church, school, and cemetery. The community name appears first on that deed. Martin P. Nation bought Eureka, a retired world's champion short horse, and brought him to Auburn for breeding. At one time a racetrack was located a half mile from the general store. In 1904 the community reported a population of 136. By the 1940s Auburn consisted of one business, a school, a church, and a few widely scattered dwellings. The 1968 population was reported at twelve. On April 11, 1978, a state historical marker for the cemetery was dedicated as a result of research and documentation done by Cloyd F. Stiles, a great-grandson of Rezia Banks.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ellis County, Texas, Cemetery Records, Vol. 1 (Waxahachie, Texas: Ellis County Genealogical Society, 1981). Edna Davis Hawkins et al., History of Ellis County, Texas (Waco: Texian, 1972). Marker Files, Texas Historical Commission, Austin.

Ubah Stiles