The Monterey Mushrooms farm on State Highway 75 south of Madisonville is the industry behind the town's official title: in 2005 the Texas Legislature named Madisonville the Mushroom Capital of Texas, citing the farm and the town's annual Texas Mushroom Festival. Ralston Purina operated a mushroom plant near Madisonville in the 1970s, and Monterey Mushrooms bought it in the early 1980s, when it employed 400 people. By 2014 it was the largest mushroom producer in Texas and the largest private employer in Madisonville, with about 650 workers and an output of some 600,000 pounds a week, mostly white button mushrooms along with baby bella and portabella. The mushrooms are grown indoors, in large rooms kept humid and at about 60 degrees, and in 2014 they were shipped mostly within Texas and as far west as Phoenix.
That year the company was adding two buildings expected to raise output to 657,000 pounds a week and to add about 50 jobs. The plant arrived as Madisonville was widening beyond farm trade. Interstate 45 was built through the eastern edge of town in the early 1960s, a 110-acre industrial park opened in the early 1970s, and oil and gas production has added to the county's economy since 1973. The Texas Mushroom Festival, held downtown each October, reached its 24th edition in 2025 and typically draws around 10,000 people.
Getting there
30.9251, -95.8280
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