GARRETT, TEXAS (Ellis County). Garrett is on Farm Road 879 twelve miles east of Waxahachie in east central Ellis County. The settlement, named for William Garrett, one of the original landowners of the area, once served as an important shipping point for Ellis County farmers and businessmen. In the early 1870s Garrett became the site of the junction of the Waxahachie Tap Road and the Houston and Texas Central Railway. Mail and freight were shipped from Garrett to points west. At one time fifteen passenger trains a day passed through the town. In 1888 Garrett had 100 residents, fifteen businesses, four churches, and a school. A post office branch operated there from 1894 until 1960. By the early 1900s the community's population had reached 162, and that figure changed little over the next few decades. By the early 1950s, however, the railroads had ceased regular service to Garrett. On July 23, 1956, the town incorporated. By the mid-1970s its population had grown to 225; in 1980 it was reported as 220, in 1990 as 340, and in 2000 as 448.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Edna Davis Hawkins, et al., History of Ellis County, Texas (Waco: Texian, 1972). Memorial and Biographical History of Ellis County (Chicago: Lewis, 1892; rpt., as Ellis County History, Fort Worth: Historical Publishers, 1972).

David Minor