Lincoln

Lincoln is eight miles northwest of Giddings in central Lee County. The town was named for a circuit rider named John A. Lincoln who lived on a nearby farm and frequently led revivals in the area. The earliest settlers arrived before the Civil War , and by the 1880s a small community had developed there. A post office was opened for the settlement in 1886. During the 1890s the Texas and New Orleans Railroad bypassed nearby Old Evergreen, and most of its residents moved to Lincoln. For a time the town served as a shipping point for stores in Dime Box, Fedor, and Manheim. By 1890 Lincoln had two cotton gins, a corn and saw mill, a general store, and a Lutheran church. A school was constructed there around 1895, and during the 190506 school year it had an enrollment of forty-one. In 1904 the town's estimated population was 148; by 1925 it had grown to 200. A new one-room schoolhouse was constructed in 1926, and a second room was added in 1932. In 1940 the town had a reported population of 350 and eleven businesses. After World War II Lincoln began to decline. In 1945 its school was annexed by the Giddings Independent School District. From 1970 to 1990 its population was estimated at 276. In 1970 the town reported five businesses, in 1988, three, and in 1990, eight. By 2000 the population was 276 with fourteen businesses.