Discover Salem: A Historical Overview of a Rural Community in Grimes County


By: Laurie E. Jasinski

Published: August 31, 2005

Salem is a small rural community located off State Highway 90 about four miles northeast of Navasota in west central Grimes County. Settlement probably began by the early 1900s. In 1913 Rev. H. Y. Williams organized the Salem Missionary Baptist Church. During the first decades of the twentieth century the church and a nearby cemetery served the farmers of the area. Salem also had its own common school district. Sometime in the middle of the century the school closed, but the church continued to operate into the latter part of the twentieth century. In 1990 Salem reported a population of fifty, and the community maintained that number in 2000.

Another common school district named Salem as well as a church by that name existed in northern Grimes County in the vicinity of Bedias in the late 1800s and early 1900s. No other information is available for that site.

TSHA is a proud affiliate of University of Texas at Austin
Grimes County Historical Commission, History of Grimes County, Land of Heritage and Progress (Dallas: Taylor, 1982).

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

Laurie E. Jasinski, “Salem, TX (Grimes County),” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed March 09, 2026, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/salem-tx-grimes-county.

Published by the Texas State Historical Association.

TID: HNSAR

August 31, 2005

Find out more about this place from our Texas Almanac.

Place
Salem
Currently Exists
Yes
Place Type
Town
USGS ID
1367348
Town Fields
  • Has post office: No
  • Is Incorporated: No
Belongs to
  • Grimes County
Coordinates
  • Latitude: 30.43242690°
  • Longitude: -96.01689970°
Population Counts
People Year
54 2009

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