Discover Cross Roads: A Historic Rural Community in Madison County


By: Laurie E. Jasinski

Published: August 31, 2005

Cross Roads is a small rural community located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 75 and the Old San Antonio Road about ten miles north of Madisonville in northern Madison County. The town began around the early 1900s, and much activity centered on a general store owned by John Collier and located on the northeastern corner of the highway intersection. Nearby was a blacksmith shop and a Baptist church. During the first half of the twentieth century several different stores were opened in Cross Roads. A cotton gin and a gristmill served the farmers of the region who brought their cotton and corn to town. The last business to operate in the community was a store owned by W. L. "Bud" Waldrip at the northwestern corner of the Cross Roads intersection. The establishment closed in 1978. Cross Roads has remained a dispersed rural community. In 2000 the population was seventy-five.

TSHA is a proud affiliate of University of Texas at Austin
Madison County Historical Commission, A History of Madison County, Texas (Dallas: Taylor, 1984).

Places:

The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry.

Laurie E. Jasinski, “Cross Roads, TX (Madison County),” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed March 09, 2026, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/cross-roads-tx-madison-county.

Published by the Texas State Historical Association.

TID: HNCBN

August 31, 2005

Find out more about this place from our Texas Almanac.

Place
Cross Roads
Currently Exists
Yes
Place Type
Town
USGS ID
2034824
Town Fields
  • Has post office: No
  • Is Incorporated: No
Belongs to
  • Madison County
Coordinates
  • Latitude: 31.08379660°
  • Longitude: -95.92523200°
Population Counts
People Year
75 2014

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