[6] The French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, who was misguided in his 1687 attempt to locate the Mississippi River and trying to find his way back to French-held lands near the Great Lakes, came through the area that would become Navasota, where he was murdered by one of his men.

[citation needed] After September 1859, when the Houston and Texas Central Railway built rails through the town, Navasota became an important shipping and marketing center for the surrounding area.

A few wealthy planters depended on enslaved African Americans to provide labor for their large cotton plantations.

Cotton, gunpowder, and shoes were made, processed, and stored in Anderson for the Confederacy during the American Civil War.

Throughout the Civil War, all the marketable goods produced in the region were brought to Navasota, which at the time was the furthest inland railhead in Texas.

Such goods were shipped south by rail to Galveston, where they could be transported by steamboat along the Texas coast and up the Mississippi River to the war effort or exported to Mexico or overseas to Europe.

Many Navasota citizens, including the mayor, fled to escape the disease, and the town's population dropped by about 50 percent.

In the late 1860s the KKK moved into Navasota, prompting a tense confrontation between federal soldiers and a crowd of local whites on one occasion.

[7] Navasota was considered such a "wild and woolly" place that women and children were discouraged from going downtown even in broad daylight.

Every Sunday morning the undertaker hitched up a buggy and went downtown to collect the bodies he expected to find after another wild Saturday night.

[citation needed] In 1908, Navasota was still a Wild West boomtown: according to one source, "shootouts on the main street were so frequent that in two years at least a hundred men had died".

The city of Navasota earned a 2011 Gold Leadership Award from the Texas Comptroller's Office for efforts in transparency.

[9] In August 2013, Navasota was named a Go Texan "Certified Retirement Community" by the Texas Department of Agriculture.

In 2013, the British documentary project known as Vague Direction visited Navasota and interviewed local residents Misslette The Singing Cowgirl and hog trapper Steve Stribling.

[11] Navasota has many shops and artisans in its historic downtown district, including antique, gift, and boutique stores and art galleries housed in old classic stone and brick structures.

Navasota retains a number of historic Victorian homes on Washington Avenue, the main residential and commercial thoroughfare through town.

[12] It served as the primary grid for the local high school football team, the Navasota Rattlers, until the new stadium was constructed in 2006.

The second is a stone bust that was previously in downtown, and was rededicated by the French consulate in May 2012 at nearby August Horst Park.

[14] Other attractions include art galleries, the Horlock House Artists-in-Residence program and museum, live music venues, food truck parks and several murals that present great selfie locations for area visitors.

Brule Elementary exceeded state targets in Student Progress, Closing Performance Gaps, and Post-Secondary Readiness.

School organizations and athletics available to students include Business Professionals of America, FFA, Student Council, National Honor Society, Theatre, Choir, Kickstart, Band, Bass Fishing, FCA, Skills USA, Library Club, Boyz II Men, Princess Code, UIL Academics, One Act Play, HOSA-Future Health Science Professionals, Spanish Club, Family Career and Community Leaders of America, Football, Volleyball, Cross Country, Drill Team, Cheer, Basketball, Golf, Tennis, Baseball, Softball, Powerlifting, Soccer, and Track.