Discover Compton: A Historic Farming Community in Rusk County


By: Laurie E. Jasinski

Published: November 18, 2004

Compton is a small farming community located off Farm Road 839 about eight miles southwest of Henderson in south central Rusk County. Sometime around the 1890s the Compton family donated land for a school to serve area children in the nearby village of Pone. The school and vicinity became known as the Compton School Community, and resident families included the Bells, Broomes, Clarks, Comptons, Gambles, Houstons, Hudsons, Wards, and others. The school also functioned as the center of social activity where farmers held dances, debates, and box suppers. In the 1930s Compton consisted of homes and a church. In the latter half of the twentieth century the old school building was used as a community center. No population figures were available in 2000.

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Rusk County Genealogical Society, Remembering Rusk County (Dallas: Curtis Media, 1992).

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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, “Compton, TX,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed May 19, 2026, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/compton-tx.

TID: HRCFE

November 18, 2004