Blodgett, TX

Blodgett is at the junction of Farm roads 21 and 127, ten miles southwest of Mount Pleasant in southwestern Titus County. This rural community began in the late 1800s and was known by the name of Liberty. Early farming families included the Benson, Bass, Brantley, Munn, Coston, and Miller families. A post office opened on September 22, 1903, but because there was already a town called Liberty, the community was named Blodgett for postmaster John F. Blodgett. The post office was discontinued on September 14, 1905, and the mail was routed to nearby Winfield. In the early 1900s residents attended the Liberty Missionary Baptist Church, and children went to Blodgett School. In 1907 the school consisted of seven grades and more than fifty students. Cotton farming was the mainstay for many families and a shingle mill also operated in the area. On the night of April 9, 1919, a tornado struck the community and destroyed the church, but the congregation quickly rebuilt the structure. By the 1930s Blodgett still supported the farming families of the region with the church, a mercantile, and the school, which operated as its own county school district. In 1945 the town had one business and about twenty-five residents. The school had consolidated with the Mount Pleasant Independent School District by the 1960s. In the 1980s Blodgett had two churches and a cemetery but experienced increased activity with the newly constructed Lake Bob Sandlin and the opening of Lake Bob Sandlin State Park located just southeast of the community. In 2000 Blodgett had a population of sixty.