Blood & Biohazard Cleanup Near Downtown Abbott Abbott, TX

Abbott is a small city in south-central Hill County, just east of Interstate 35 and ten miles south of Hillsboro, the county seat.

Abbott was founded in 1881 as a railroad town on the Missouri, Kansas and Texas line and was named for Joseph "Jo" Abbott, a lawyer, judge, and U.S. congressman who represented the area.

A post office opened in 1882, and in the 1890s Abbott had two cotton gins and a gristmill serving the Blackland Prairie cotton country around it.

Abbott's population grew from 156 in 1890 to a peak of 713 in 1914, and the town was incorporated in 1916.

The 2020 census counted 352 residents in Abbott, and the 2000 census recorded 300 residents in 124 households.

Abbott is best known as the birthplace of country music legend Willie Nelson, who was born there on April 29, 1933, and was raised by his grandparents during the Great Depression.

Willie Nelson's sister, pianist Bobbie Nelson, was also born in Abbott, and both siblings attended Abbott High School.

Willie Nelson later bought the Abbott Methodist Church, where his family had worshipped, to save the building from being sold or torn down.

The whole city covers only about 0.6 square miles along Interstate 35 between Waco and Dallas.