Oak Shade, TX (Liberty County)

Oak Shade is in northern Liberty County just south of Farm Road 787, about fifty-three miles northeast of Houston. The community was established before the Civil War, with a school opening in 1857 and the Rev. Austin Ellis serving as first pastor for the Oak Shade church. By 1860 the community had moved a half mile north of its original location. The development of the Rural Shade Baptist Church three miles south of Oak Shade in 1870 led to a split in the community, although the original church structure was revamped in 1881. Scattered rural residences remained during the twentieth century, and a Texas Historical Commission marker was secured for the Oak Shade church in 1980.