From local traditional stories, it is believed that two horse thieves were hanged there under a large tree and that the community was then called "Nogallows" by some.

In the early 1860s, it was named Nogallis, then the spelling of the post office was changed eventually to its present form.

Between 1900 and 1918, the community had a Methodist church, several stores, a cotton gin, a sawmill, a gristmill, and a Woodmen of the World lodge.

[2] The walnut and pecan trees that thrived there when Texas was still a province of Mexico and Spanish families lived in the area gave the community its original name, Nogales Prairie.

[3] Nogalus Prairie is located on Farm to Market Road 357, just west of Centralia, and 13 miles northeast of Groveton in northeastern Trinity County.