Biohazard Cleanup Near Downtown Mingus Mingus, TX

Mingus is a small city in southwestern Palo Pinto County, Texas, set along Gibson and Palo Pinto creeks at the junction of State Highways 193 and 108.

The town was named for William Mingus, who settled in the area in 1856, according to the Handbook of Texas.

Mingus developed after the Texas and Pacific Railway was built through the area in 1881, and it served the farmers and ranchers of southwestern Palo Pinto County.

Mingus was a sizable farm town in its early decades, with an estimated population of about 1,110 in both 1920 and 1930 and twenty-five businesses reported in 1930.

The town shrank through the mid-1900s, falling to 570 residents by 1940 and just over 200 by 1980, though its post office remained open.

The 2020 census counted 223 people in Mingus, down from 246 people in 110 households at the 2000 census.

In the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, Mingus was famous locally as a 'wet' town, with thriving liquor stores and bars that drew customers from the surrounding 'dry' parts of Palo Pinto County and nearby counties.

Mingus's wet-town era was memorialized in 'Road to Mingus,' a comedic country song by John Clay and the Lost Austin Band about three young men from Strawn who died trying to beat a train at a crossing on their way home.

By the 2000s, the Cossacks Motorcycle Club had become a patron of the town's remaining commercial establishments.

The City of Mingus is served by the Gordon Independent School District, and the little city covers about 1.5 square miles, all of it land.