Golinda

Golinda, on U.S. Highway 77 and the boundary between Falls and McLennan counties, was named for Ignacio Galindo, a priest who received an eleven-league land grant in the area in 1833. Early settlers, who moved to the vicinity for rich agricultural land, preferred the location of Golinda, on high ground, to sites in the bottomlands near the Brazos River, where they feared contracting malaria or typhoid. Stagecoaches traveling from Marlin to Waco crossed the Brazos River at the Rock Dam Crossing, near the site of what is now Satin, and made a stop at Golinda, which had a saloon, a general store, a church, and a school. The school was used later by the Woodmen of the World lodge. The town's post office, named Golindo, was open from 1860 to 1902. Golinda reported a population numbering between 25 and 50 during the late 1800s. By the late 1930s the population was estimated at 68. It climbed to 100 by 1947 and to 160 by 1968. Golinda was incorporated in the 1970s. In 1980 its population was 335. During the mid-1980s the surrounding area produced corn, milo, wheat, and livestock. In 1990 the population of Golinda was 347, and in 2000 it was 423.