Goforth
Posted by: vhasler
N 30° 01.385 W 097° 47.859
14R E 615941 N 3321951
A farming community was here from the 1870s until the 1920s when a pest epidemic wiped out the local livelihood.
Waymark Code: WMKP3D
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 05/09/2014
Views: 4
GOFORTH, TEXAS. Goforth, twelve miles northeast of San Marcos, was once the center of cotton production in eastern Hays County. It was named for landowner and merchant J. T. Goforth. In 1881 the community built its first school, called Prairie Hill. A post office operated at Goforth from 1890 to 1902. Although population estimates for the community fell from 100 in 1892 to twenty in 1896, by 1900 Goforth's ginning company had established itself as one of the busiest in Central Texas. In the early 1900s the prosperous farms and ranches of eastern Hays County supported a variety of businesses and services at Goforth, but soil exhaustion and erosion began reducing local agricultural yields, and a flood in 1913 accelerated the decline. Area farms and businesses failed, and Goforth lost population. The community persisted as the site of a school for local Mexican Americans until 1948, when the school closed. The 1981 county highway map showed only a cemetery at the townsite.
Reference: Texas State Historical Association (
visit link)
The driving directions are important, particularly if you don't know the area. Official directions are from the NW: "From IH-35 take FM 2001E approx 4.5 miles to CR 157/Goforth Road approx. 1.5 mi." Marker will be on your right. Attempting from the SW will discover that Goforth Road winds with confusing turns.