Big Hill

Big Hill (Bighill), on Farm Road 2489 seven miles west of Thornton in western Limestone County, was named for an elevation used by the Indians as a lookout point. Settlement began there in the 1880s with the opening of the blacklands for farming. Big Hill Methodist Church, which served as the focus of the community for many years, was organized in 1879. A post office was opened in 1894 with Bailey A. Garrett as postmaster, and in 1896 a Big Hill school district was organized. The town's population reached a peak of about 100 in 1915 but began to decline by the 1920s as business grew in nearby Groesbeck. The Big Hill post office was closed in 1924, and by 1949 the population had declined to twenty. After World War II the church disbanded, and the school was consolidated with that of Groesbeck. By 1985 only the abandoned church and cemetery were left to mark the site of the town. In 2000 the population was reported as nine.