Newport, Texas

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Newport is on Farm to Market Road 1288 and SH 59 24 miles southeast of Henrietta in far southeastern Clay County, Texas. Farm to Market Road 2127 also passes just south of town. It's population is estimated at 70.

[edit] History

The town was initially established by L. Hancock in 1872 as Bear Hill. It received a post office in 1878, and in 1879, the name of the town and post office was changed to Newport. By 1900 Newport's population reached 176. It increased to 280 by the mid-1920s and stayed at that level through the 1940s. By the 1950s the population had dropped to 85. From the 1960s through today, the population of Newport was 70. Townspeople of Newport have long associated more closely with Jacksboro and Jack County than either Henrietta or Clay County, though the town is actually closer to Bowie in Montague County. Its post office remained open until the early 1990s.