Winnie, at the junction of Hwy 124 and I-10, twenty-five miles southwest of
Beaumont in eastern
Chambers County, was named for Fox Winnie, a contractor on the Gulf and Inter-state Railway.
By 1980 the population was estimated at 2,500. Although the oil glut of the mid-1980s severely hurt the region's economy, Winnie remained the largest community in Chambers County; the county maintained a variety of offices there. The Winnie railroad depot was given to the East Chambers Agricultural and Historical Society and, with neighboring Stowell, the town has cohosted the annual Texas Rice Festival since 1970.
In 1990 the population of Winnie was 2,238. Winnie is part of the Houston, Texas metro area.
