Boston, Texas

The original (Old) Boston, 3 miles south, was settled in the early 1830s, and named for store owner W. J. Boston. It was selected as the county seat of the newly formed county in 1841. In 1876, the Texas and Pacific Railway passed four miles north of (Old) Boston, prompting a population shift to the tracks, forming the community of New Boston. In the mid-1880s, as the population of (Old) Boston declined, citizens of Texarkana successfully moved the county seat to their city in the extreme east of the county. Within five years, citizens of central and western Bowie county successfully proposed moving the county seat closer to the geographic center of the county. The new community began in 1890 with the construction of the County Courthouse, one mile south of New Boston and three miles north of the original Boston. The county seat was required to have a post office. After the first three proposed names, Center, Hood and Glass, were reject as already in use, Boston's post office (including its name) was relocated to the new county seat, while the original was relabeled "Old Boston". In the 1980s, a new courthouse was built in New Boston, but Boston remained the county seat.[2]