Otey Texas. (original) (raw)

History in a Pecan Shell

Originally the site of Palo Alto, one of the largest antebellum cotton plantations in Texas, it was just one of the holdings of the Mills Brothers (Robert and David G.). Mills bankrupted during Reconstruction, the brothers lost the land to creditors and in 1908 the state bought it and other plantations to build the Ramsey Prison Farm.

In 1911 a post office was granted but the origin of the name is a mystery. In 1914 the population was given as 700 and the Ramsey Farm reported 624 inmates.

The population declined to a mere 150 in 1958 and mail was rerouted through the Rosharon post office in the 1970s.

Otey today is actually surrounded by the sprawling 15,040-acres of what is now called the Ramsey Unit of the TDC and visitors have to pass through prison roadblocks to enter the town. It sits at the end of the FM 655 cul-de-sac.

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