NUGENT, TEXAS. Nugent, on Farm Road 600 eighteen miles north of Abilene in southeastern Jones County, was built on land that around 1900 belonged to John A. Roberts, one of the first settlers of the county. In 1879 Roberts and his brothers settled between the Clear Fork of the Brazos River and the "shinnery," a section of southeastern Jones County characterized by a dense undergrowth of shrubs and small trees and sandy soil considered unsuitable for farming. The Clear Fork provided water for their stock, and the shinnery served as a barrier to Indian attack. While the Nugent community was officially founded on June 1, 1905, by Laura G. Roberts (widow of John A. Roberts), the town was named in 1887 by its first businessman and postmaster, R. D. Jefferies. The Nugent school, called Green Valley until its consolidation with the Rising Sun school, was established in 1892. A post office opened at the community in 1893; it closed around 1955. By 1910 Nugent had three ministers, three general stores, an electrician, a blacksmith, a doctor, a small hotel, and a population of ninety-five. During the 1920s life at Nugent revolved around its one business, its school, and its three churches—Methodist Episcopal, Baptist, and Church of Christ. In 1922 the residents of Nugent constructed a two-story brick school building with six classrooms and an auditorium. The community by 1927 had a population of ninety-four, three churches, a general merchandise store, a mechanic's garage, and a blacksmith shop. By 1948 Nugent's population was forty-eight. Its school district had been consolidated with the Lueders district by the early 1960s. The community's population was reported as sixty-one in 1985, when it had two churches and a small welding shop. In 2000 its population was forty-one. (excerpt from the Handbook of Texas Online)
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