China Spring, TX

China Spring is a McLennan County census-designated place on Farm-to-Market Road 1637, about twelve miles northwest of Waco. Settlement began by 1860, and the community took shape in 1867 around the spring in a chinaberry grove. By the early 1880s, the place had cotton gins, gristmills, general stores, a Methodist church, and shipments of cotton, corn, and wool. China Spring Independent School District still gives the community a named center, while the spring and old cemetery keep the original story close to the road. China Spring is a Texas crossroads named for trees and water.