Pelham (Forks of the Creek)

Navarro County, TX

Status: Located

Year Established: 1866

Council of Governments: NCTCOG

Public History: Pelham is on Farm Road 744 just east of the Hill county line, one mile northwest of Navarro Mills Lake and twenty-five miles west of Corsicana in west central Navarro County. It was settled by newly freed slaves in 1866, when it was called Forks of the Creek. In 1878 the Wesley United Methodist Church was founded. It housed the first school in the town. The post office opened in 1900 but closed in 1908. Postmaster Lewis Richie’s wife renamed the town Pelham for her hometown in Alabama. Pelham flourished during the Navarro County oil boom from 1894 to the 1920s. Its population peaked at 350 in 1926 and declined to twenty-five by 1936. From 1966 to 1990 the population was estimated at seventy-five. Maps of the 1980s indicated a school, a church, and businesses at the site.

Community History: Mrs. Alva Porter, of Pelham, handwrote a list of the Black communities in the area. She recalled these communities since she was a child, having grown up in the community of Elm Flat. She lived most of her life in Pelham where she resides today at 94 years old. Her daughter runs the Pelham Community History Museum.

Cemetery: Pelham Cemetery

Church: Wesley United Methodist Church

School: The Pelham School