View source for Kosse, Texas

==History==

=== Early settlement ===
Initial settlement of the area began in the mid-1840s as a community known as Eutaw. Settlers built homes near Duck Creek and Eutaw was a stage stop for the Franklin-Springfield and Waco-Marlin stage routes.<ref name="Texas Handbook">{{cite web | url = https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hlk14 | title = Kosse, Texas | publisher = [[The Handbook of Texas]] online | access-date = November 4, 2009}}</ref>

=== Arrival of the Houston & Texas Central Railway ===
Following the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], the area was in the planned route of the [[Houston and Texas Central Railway]] (H&TC) which was being constructed to link Houston to Dallas, Denison and the Red River.  The H&TC set aside one acre of land along the rail line two miles west of Eutaw as a townsite, and named it for chief engineer Theodore Kosse.  For several months in late 1870 and early 1871, Kosse was the northernmost terminus of the railway, and the population briefly boomed.  But by the spring of 1871, the rail line had been extended further north to the new terminus of Groesbeck and Kosse's population was considerably reduced. By 1873, ''Logan's Railway Business Directory'' noted that Kosse "contains about 200 inhabitants and is doing little business. When it was the terminus it was a thriving place, now its glory has faded. Cattle constitute the bulk of shipments from here."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Logan|first=A. L.|title=Logan's Railway Business Directory|url=https://archive.org/details/logansrailwaybus00loga|publisher=A. L. Logan & Co.|year=1873|location=St. Louis, MO|pages=[https://archive.org/details/logansrailwaybus00loga/page/106 106]}}</ref>

=== Incorporation and early years ===
The new town of Kosse was formally incorporated by an Act of the Texas Legislature on May 22, 1871. The Act named G. N. Beaumont, D. T. Igleheart, J. Huey, R. H. Fielder and a Mr. Young to be commissioners to lay off the town and make a town plat. The town's first officers were appointed by the Governor, and the first general election was held on the second Tuesday in November 1872, at which time a mayor, constable and five aldermen were elected for a two-year term.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Laws of Texas, 1822-1897 (Vol. 6)|last=Gammell|first=Hans P. N.|year=1898|pages=438–441}}</ref>  The town was named for H&TC's chief engineer, Theodore Kosse.

=== Late 19th century ===
The first census of Kosse was taken in 1880 when it had a population of 476. Five years later, Kosse had multiple cotton gins, two sawmills, and three gristmills.<ref name="Texas Escapes" /> By 1890 there were 647 residents.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth46827/m1/376/sizes/l/|title=A Memorial and Biographical History of Navarro, Henderson, Anderson, Limestone, Freestone and Leon Counties, Texas|date=1893|publisher=Lewis Publishing Company|location=Chicago|page=376|access-date=September 28, 2014}}</ref>

An acre of land was granted for the construction of a public school on October 1, 1884. Kosse became an independent school district in 1893, with J. Thomas Hall as its first superintendent.<ref name="Kosse Cafe">{{cite web|url=http://www.kossecafe.com/kossehistory.html|title=Kosse, Texas|publisher=Kosse Cafe|access-date=November 4, 2009}}</ref> The district had a total of 225 students. A separate school with 80 students and two teachers served the area's black community.<ref name="Texas Handbook" />

On December 22, 1895, a fire burned seven brick buildings and destroyed the merchandise of seventeen firms; this caused a loss of $75,000, of which only $30,000 was insured.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.newspapers.com|title=A $75,000 Fire in Texas|date=December 23, 1895|work=The Times-Picayune (New Orleans)|access-date=November 30, 2019}}</ref>

=== Early 20th century ===
By the turn of the 20th century, Kosse had emerged as a small but stable regional community that supported the surrounding farms and ranches of southern Limestone County.
[[File:Kosse1899.jpg|thumb|Downtown Kosse in November 1899]]
Kosse was home to 700 residents in 1914. A local Chamber of Commerce was formed in 1921. In 1922, discovery of oil by wildcatter A. E. Humphreys dramatically transformed Kosse into a temporary oil boom town with thousands of new residents.  However, the numerous wells drilled around Kosse did not turn out to be producers, and Kosse's oil boom came to a rapid close early in 1923.

The [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]] severely impacted Kosse as businesses closed and people left in search of jobs. Declining student enrollment caused the Kosse School Board to vote in favor of consolidation with Groesbeck in 1968.<ref name="Kosse Cafe" /> Kosse had eleven businesses in 1989.