Posted in Texas
April 30, 2016
Most People Don’t Know How These 7 Towns In Texas Got Their Start
In Texas, we have plenty of historic towns that date back to before we even became a state, so it makes sense that we wouldn’t be fully aware of how they began. Luckily, after doing a little digging, I’ve come up with a list of several small towns and how they got their start. These are the seven I chose.
It was only fitting to put Nacogdoches on this list given the fact that it's the oldest town in Texas. In fact, Caddo Indians began populating the area over 10,000 years ago, but it wasn't until 1716 that Spain established a mission there. It officially became a town in 1779, long before Texas was even a state, when Spain declared it as such. Nacogdoches has actually been under more flags than Texas as a whole: the Magee-Gutierrez Republic, the Long Republic, and the Fredonian Rebellion along with the famous Six Flags Over Texas.
Luckenbach began with the simple act of a Reverend's wife establishing a little general store near their home in 1860. Since there wasn't much else around, her husband decided to apply for a post office to officially designate their homeland as a town. His sister, Minna, agreed to work at the post office and was granted the opportunity to name the town in return. She chose Luckenbach after her fiance, Carl Luckenbach, who was the son of a German man who immigrated to the area about 20 years prior.
Salado is home to the oldest currently operating hotel in Texas, the Stagecoach Inn, but Native American settlements there date back over 15,000 years. White settlers arrived in about 1834, but were driven out by the army of Santa Anna just two years later. Archibald Willingham was the first permanent white settler in the area, arriving in 1850, and the Salado Post Office was established in 1852, marking it as an official town. The famous Chisholm Trail ran through Salado until 1885, and the Stagecoach Inn was one of the stops along the way.
The town that's now a hub for artists and paranormal investigators alike started off as a simple railroad water stop. The name "Marfa" actually comes from a Jules Verne novel and was proposed by the wife of a railroad executive.
The quaint town of Jefferson got its start as a shipping port for those wishing to sell their crops, namely cotton. People would travel from as far as Dallas in covered wagons to sell their white gold, and a lot of them ended up staying in the area and ended up establishing the town.
The little hill country town we all know and love started off as a trading post. A man built a gristmill and eventually sold it to someone by the name of Wimberley, hence the name of the town. In 1880, a postmaster from San Marcos applied for a post office, making Wimberley an official town.
The namesake of this town, Collin McKinney, was actually one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. The 3,000 acres of land was donated by William Davis in 1849.
Did you know the origin stories of these historic towns?
