Hungerford is a census-designated place (CDP) in northeastern Wharton County, Texas, United States.

It is located on what in the 1820s was part of colonist Alexander Jackson's land grant north of George E. Quinan's home.

By the 1870s, the Quinan settlement grew up a short distance away, but its residents moved to the new town when the railroad came through Hungerford.

[3] According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 1.8 square miles (4.7 km2), all land.

Alexander Jackson was one of the Old Three Hundred colonists from the United States who accepted land grants from Stephen F. Austin.

The Alexander Jackson league was a strip of land which was bounded on the southwest by the Colorado River, just northwest of present-day Wharton and ran northeast beyond West Bernard Creek.

[5] Its purpose was to recondition weapons captured at the Battle of San Jacinto and to watch for a possible invasion by the Mexican army.

[7] The Quinan post office was established in 1874 in the general store owned by John C. Habermacher, who also served as postmaster.

[9] In 1882, the New York, Texas and Mexican Railway was built through the newly surveyed town of Hungerford, which was in the adjacent George W. Singleton league.

[8] The new town was named after Daniel E. Hungerford, who was the father-in-law of the railroad's major investor, John William Mackay.

The United States Postal Service Hungerford Post Office is located at 210 East Live Oak Street.