Communities
Submitted By: Dan L. Barker and Mark Rachels
The many historical factors
discussed earlier in this section played influential roles in community
developmental patterns. This part of the report provides brief summaries of most
cities, towns and villages that survive or existed at one time in Ellis
County. The location of most of
these communities appear on a county highway map prepared by the Texas Highway
Department in 1936.
Alma |
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Alma was originally
known as Willow Pond and served as a stagecoach stop on Grant's Stage Line
between Waxahachie and Marshall.
Located about five miles southeast of Ennis, the town was renamed
Alma in honor of Alma Hemming, daughter of Brenham banker C.C.
Hemming. One of the earliest
settlers was Thomas Smith from Tennessee who arrived in the area about
1844. The first church and
school in Alma were built in 1880.
The Texas Electric Interurban reached the town in 1911.
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Alsdorf
Alsdorf is in eastern Ellis
County between the small farming communities of Sand Lake and Crisp. It was
named for Alsdorf Faulkner, a former agent for the Texas and New Orleans
Railroad. A post office was opened
in 1895, and the Texas Midland Railroad maintained a depot there until
the early 20th century.
Auburn
Auburn is about 16 miles
west of Waxahachie on the Johnson County line and was established in 1870. By 1880 Auburn had a population of 250,
with four church organizations, three stores, a school, three cotton gins and
several corn mills. Because it was
bypassed by the railroad, the town steadily declined in population after
1900.
Avalon
Avalon is in southern Ellis
County between Italy and Ennis and was named by early settler William John. The first post office was established in
1881 (discontinued in 1907 and reestablished in 1937) and a combination
schoolhouse and church facility was constructed in 1887. The community is centered around farming
and ranching, and in the early 1930s the population exceeded 300.
Bardwell
Bardwell, a small
agricultural community in southeastern Ellis County, was named for John W.
Bardwell who once owned a cotton gin one mile southwest of the town. In the early 1900s, as many as three
cotton gins operated in the community.
Bethel
Located about eight miles
southwest of Waxahachie, Bethel was created in the late 1880's when the Cooke
and Neel settlements were consolidated.
It was originally called Wilton but its name was later changed to
Bethel. One of the early businesses
was a horse-powered cotton gin which was later converted to steam power.
Boyce
Boyce, a small farming
community in central Ellis County, was named for its first resident, Captain
William A. Boyce, who settled in the area in 1874. The town became a stop on the Houston
and Texas Central Railroad in 1878 (now the Southern Pacific) when William Boyce
gave land for the construction of a station, known as the Jeffries station. In 1892, the town had a cotton gin, a
post office (established in 1883), bank, store, and blacksmith shop. At that time, there were also three
churches and a school. The Boyce
school was also used as the meeting place for the Boyce Literary Society.
Boz
Boz is a farming community
in west-central Ellis County. In
the early 1900s, Boz claimed over a hundred residents and had three general
merchandise stores, two churches, a post office, blacksmith shop, cotton gin and
school. By 1940, the population was
less than 75.
Bristol
Bristol was first called
Brockville when it was originally settled by Joshua Brock in 1847. He settled on
the west
bank of the Trinity River at a location near where the State Rock Road dead
ends. He was the first postmaster of
Brockville on September 22, 1854. Jack Ellis built the first house in the community. Located in the eastern part of Ellis
County near the Trinity River, Bristol's soil is of the black, fertile type
characteristic of the "cotton belt" area.
Consequently, Bristol is a farming community. The population in 1890 was
approximately 300. In 1928 fire
destroyed many frame buildings in the town, including the original post office,
two schools and the Methodist Church.
Burnham
(Burnam)
Burnham was a small trading
community about six miles southwest of Waxahachie near Cummins Creek. The town was originally called Cummins
Creek, and a post office was established in 1859. A town plat was surveyed in 1861 and
included 25 blocks clustered around a public square. Census records of 1870 show that the
population of Burnham was about 1,600.
When the Houston and Texas Central Railroad arrived in Ellis County in
1872, the town was bypassed and most residents relocated to Ennis. The post
office was discontinued one year later.
Byrd
The community of Byrd is in
Southwestern Ellis County, about five miles southeast of Bardwell. H.L. Parker was the first settler in
this area which was first initially known as Byron. Its name was changed to Byrd after local
resident Charlie Byrd donated land for the first school and community
center. A post office was
established in 1894 but was discontinued in 1905.
Center Point
Center Point is a former
turn community two miles south of Italy.
The name comes from the location of the town, which is the midpoint
between Dallas and Waco (about fifty miles from each city). The Harpold family were the first
settlers, arriving in the area in 1860.
Crisp
Crisp, in east-central Ellis
County, was named after Charles F. Crisp, a one-time speaker of the Texas House
of Representatives. The town was
laid out on the Texas Midland Railroad and a post office was first established
in 1892.
Derr's
Chapel
The community of Derr's
Chapel is four miles southwest of Italy and four miles north of Milford. The Derr's, an early settler family,
donated the land on which Derr's Chapel was built.
Ennis |
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Ennis is about fifteen
miles southeast of Waxahachie in eastern Ellis County. The town was
founded in 1872 when the Houston and Texas Central Railroad purchased land
for the town site and railroad.
Many settlers relocated in Ennis from nearby communities which were
not served by the railroad. The town grew rapidly
as a regional center of transportation, particularly after 1891 when the
Houston and Texas Central Railroad established shops there. Consequently, Ennis developed a
bustling downtown with banks, restaurants, hotels and other businesses to
serve local residents as well as the increasing number of railway
travelers. Other railroad
companies eventually extended their lines to Ennis. The Texas Midland Railroad came in
1894 and erected both a passenger and freight depot. This railroad was later absorbed
into the Southern Pacific railway system and it continues to service the
community. Ennis was also on
an interurban line that extended from Dallas to Corsicana. It was discontinued shortly after
World War II. Although known as a
railroad town, Ennis and its economy also relied heavily on the production
of cotton. Many local farmers
brought their cotton to Ennis for processing and transportation to
market. Ennis became one of
the largest communities in the county and soon rivaled Waxahachie in
significance and importance.
At the turn of the century, Ennis had two cotton compresses, a
cotton oil mill and several cotton gins. |
Ennis Railroad Yard |
Most residents of Ennis and
surrounding areas were immigrants from the Upland and Lowland South, however a
significant portion of the population included immigrants from Germany, Hungary
and Czechoslovakia. A small Jewish
community also formed in early Ennis; several members were instrumental in
inducing the railroad company to locate their headquarters there.
A large number of blacks
also settled in Ennis; many arriving as former slaves of white farmers in
Southern states. After
Emancipation, blacks lived in small enclaves within Ennis, especially in the
northeast and western sections of the town, and they attended their own
neighborhood schools and churches.
Although most blacks remained employed as servants or field laborers,
several opened businesses within or near the predominantly white commercial
district.
Ensign
First settled in 1895,
Ensign originally consisted of several cotton gins, blacksmith shops and general
stores.
Ferris
Located in northern Ellis
County, Ferris was first settled in 1850 by the McKnight and the Andrews
families of Tennessee and consequently known as McKnight-Andrews Corner. When plans were made for a railroad to
extend through Ellis County in the early 1870s, a formal town site was platted
and the new community named Ferris in honor of Judge Justus Wesley Ferris of
Waxahachie.
Ferris is best known for its
brick manufacturing plants which fueled much of the city's growth during the
early 20th century. The first brick
plant, the Atlas Brick Company, was established by T.J. Hurst around 1900. A year later Thomas J. Weatherford
organized the Ferris Press Brick Company.
By the early part of the 20th century, six brick plants were in operation
in and near Ferris and they produced from 300,000 to 350,000 bricks daily. According to Texas Magazine (1911
4[l]:82), Ferris, "in proportion to its population is the biggest brick
manufacturing town in the world.' The six companies consolidated in 1923 to form
the Ferris Brick Company.
Agriculture was also an
important element of Ferris' economy and several cotton gins operated in the
city. The Mutz and Cassidy Gin
Company (later the Merchants and Planters Gin) was established in 1880 but
closed in 1957.
Five Points
Five Points, about nine
miles south of Waxahachie, is named for the five roads which converge
nearby. The community was first
settled around 1850 by Pinckney Sims and was known as one of the better farmmg
areas in the region. Cotton was
grown in abundance in the area, and in 1936 Five Points had two cotton
gins.
Forreston |
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1987 Population -
300 Number of Identified
Historic Resources - 58 Forreston, located
about seven miles south of Waxahachie, is one of the oldest towns in Ellis
County. William R. Howe initially settled the area in 1843 and the
community that subsequently developed was called Chambers Creek after T.J.
Chambers, who received a land grant from Mexico. Captain Carr Forrest gave
land for a formalized town site along the right-of-way of the Missouri,
Kansas and Texas Railroad, which arrived in 1891. Consequently, the town
was renamed Forreston and it soon had two cotton gins, stores, a church
and a school.
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Katy Depot in Forreston |
Garrett
Once known as Guide, Garrett
is a small farming community about two miles northwest of Ennis. It was renamed in 1894 after Claiborne
and William Garrett, who gave land for the railroad. At one time, Garrett had a busy freight
and passenger depot, since it was at the junction of the Waxahachie Tap and the
Houston and Texas Central Railroads.
Mail and freight were transferred in Garrett to westward points. In the 1890s, Garrett had a post office,
cotton gin, two schools and a church building shared by several
denominations.
Greathouse
Archibald Greathouse and
Major Thomas I. Smith settled on tracts of land between Chambers Creek and
Maypearl during the late 1800s and the dispersed settlement became known as
Greathouse. By the mid 1930s, the
community had one school and a church.
Griffith (Griffith
Switch)
Griffith is in western Ellis
County near the Johnson County line.
The community was named for J.W. Griffith, an early settler and
businessman. It was first known as Griffith Switch after the International and
Great Northern Railroad installed a switch and a cattle depot in the area, but
its name was later shortened to Griffith.
Howard
Located about eight miles
southeast of Waxahachie, Howard was originally known as White League after Carey
White, an early settler who owned a league of land in the area. In 1896, a post office was established
which took the name of Howard in honor of Howard Williams, the son of a
prominent citizen in nearby Nash.
Ike
Ike is a dispersed rural
settlement about four miles northeast of Waxahachie. The community was probably named for Ike
Henley, whose father donated land for the post office in 1898 (discontinued
1903). Mainly a farming community,
Ike's population never reached more than 100.
India
Originally called Morgan,
India is four miles east of Ferris.
In 1853, A.J. Mayers first settled in this area near the Trinity
River. This small community was the
site of one of the earliest cotton gins in the county, a horse-powered gin
complete with a human-powered press that was later modernized to steam
power.
Italy
Located in the southern part
of Ellis County, Italy was first called Houston Creek after a rumor that Sam
Houston once camped at the site.
The town was renamed "Sunny Italy" because its weather was supposedly
comparable to that of the European country. The name was later shortened to
Italy. The first house was built by
the Aycock brothers in 1879 and also served as a post office and grocery
store.
Early Italy grew rapidly and
by 1880 the town boasted three churches, four stores, a blacksmith shop and a
cotton gin. The Italy Institute, a
private school, was built in 1879 but burned in 1888. Other early educational facilities in
Italy were the Southwestern Normal School and the Hope Institute. The town also had six religious
organizations, including a large black congregation which attended the African
Methodist Episcopal Church.
Natural resources were a
major attraction to the area. Early
settlers found that timber and water was plentiful, and the soil near Italy is
rich and dark, well-suited for cotton growing. Italy farmers also grew corn, sweet
potatoes, wheat, peaches, and apples.
The Missouri, Kansas and
Texas Railroad reached Italy in 1890, and the International and Great Northern
Railroad later added a line. The
presence of the railroad attracted many new settlers, who were eager to take
advantage of the rapid transport of freight, which was formerly carried by teams
of oxen.
Due to the addition of the
railroad, the cotton industry boomed in the Italy area. By 1890, there were ten cotton gins
serving the Italy area cotton growers.
In 1911, Italy gins produced 15,000 bales of cotton and had three cotton
gins and a cotton seed oil mill to process the crop.
Lone Elm
Lone Elm was settled in 1855
by the Jones, Delk and Johnson families.
Located about five miles west of Waxahachie, the town was reportedly
named after a large elm tree from which horse thieves were hanged. Lone Elm is an area of farming, cattle
raising and dairy production.
Maypearl |
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Maypearl, in western
Ellis County, was once called Eyrie (or Erie). G. G. Brindley of Alabama was an
early settler who reportedly was told of this area by Indians who claimed
that it was populated by many birds.
Brindley and his traveling companions began a settlement and named
it Eyrie, a term for a nest of predatory birds. |
Downtown Maypearl |
In 1903, the International
and Great Northern Railroad came to the area and the town was renamed Maypearl
in honor of the daughters of two railroad officials. Maypearl received postal service in 1894
and was incorporated in 1914.
Mainly a
farming and stock raising community, Maypearl was one of the later Ellis County
towns. In the early 1900s, Maypearl had two cotton gins, a lumberyard and a
grist mill.
Midlothian
Known as both Hawkins
Springs and Barker until 1883, Midlothian is about twelve miles northwest of
Waxahachie. Its rich, black soil
attracted settlers in the early 1870s and a post office was established several
years later. Crops such as cotton,
corn and grains thrived in the fertile soil of the Midlothian area.
The Fort Worth railroad line
was the first in Midlothian, reaching the town in 1886. The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe line
arrived several years later. The
population of Midlothian has grown slowly but steadily. In 1890, there were approximately 300
residents.
Milford
Milford is an older
settlement in southern Ellis County, about twenty miles south of
Waxahachie. It was settled in the
late 1840s by Arvin Wright, William R. Hudson and J.M. Higgins who donated land
for the town. Hudson opened the
first store there in 1853. A post
office was established in 1854.
Local historians claim that the town was named for nearby Mill
Creek.
Mountain
Peak
Located in the northwestern
part of the county in a cattle raising and farming area, Mountain Peak was
originally known as Singleton, after its first postmaster, John H.
Singleton. The first house in the
Mountain Peak community was built by Granville Pettes in 1875.
In 1880, Mountain Peak had a
population of 140, gaining about twenty inhabitants by 1890. Mountain Peak had a church, school,
cotton gin, and blacksmith shop by 1900.
Nash
Nash, located near Onion
Creek, is about eight miles southeast of Waxahachie. First called Willow Springs, then Garden
Valley, Nash was established in 1880.
The town was named after N.J. Nash, an Ellis County attorney. In 1887, fire destroyed much of the
commercial area.
Oak Grove
Oak Grove is located in the
Southwestern part of the county, about six miles south of Ennis. In 1847, John and Mary Humble of
Mississippi moved to the area and settled on Cummins Creek which runs near the
community. The area attracted many
farmers and settlers from Alabama.
Early resident Frank Cook
built the first cotton gin in 1900, which was destroyed by fire in 1949.
Ozro
Ozro, once known as Nation
Town, was founded by early settler Alexander Nation, a native of Alabama who
arrived in 1868. After Nation's
death, the name of the town was changed to Ozro, the origin of which is
unknown. The town is in the
southwestern part of the county near Maypearl. The International and Great Northern
railroad set up stations in neighboring towns, but bypassed Ozro. As a result, many residents moved to
towns served by the railroad and the community was virtually abandoned.
Ovilla
Ovilla is an early
settlement about ten miles northwest of Waxahachie on Red Oak Creek. The Billingsleys, Woolseys and James
McNamarra were the first settlers who arrived around 1845, and by 1849, the
settlement had a church (Shiloh Cumberland Presbyterian, built in 1847) and a
school. By 1900, Ovilla consisted
of businesses, a post office, and a cotton gin, but fires destroyed several
structures in 1918 and again in 1926.
Palmer
Located in the east central
part of Ellis County, Palmer was settled in the 1870s. Early residents were attracted to the
area by the fertile farm land.
Alfred Anthony, one of the earliest settlers, donated land to the Houston
and Texas Central Railroad Company; the railroad reached the town in 1874.
The first structures in
Palmer included the house built by J.J. Crawford, the Roland and Hill general
merchandise store, and the T.H. Andrews grocery store. The town is noted for its brick
manufacturing plants.
Reagor
Springs
First settled in 1844 by
Southerland Mayfield, Reagor Springs is between Waxahachie and Ennis. Captain John Reagor, who came to the
area in 1849, was one of the earliest settlers. Hal and Rose Pointer arrived in the town
in 1847 and were some of the first blacks in the county. When the post office was established in
1882, it took the name of Ray in honor of one of John Reagor's sons-in-law, but
the name of the town was later changed to Reagor Springs.
Served by the Trinity and
Brazos Valley Railroad, Reagor Springs is traditionally a cotton-producing
area.
Red
Oak |
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Red Oak is ten miles
north of Waxahachie. Early settler Joel Davis gave the town its first
name, Possum Trot, when the town was a part of Navarro County. The first
house was built in 1856 by I.P. and Elijah Jeffries. The Missouri, Kansas
and Texas Railroad arrived in 1884.
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M-K-T Depot, Red Oak |
Rockett
Rockett is in the northern part of Ellis County near Red Oak Creek. The town was originally called Liberty, but its name was changed to Rockett after the John Rockett family who settled in the area in 1853. John Rocket and his wife, Anna Johnson came to Ellis county in early 1850 and settled on land which became known as the " Rocket Home Site." They had eleven children and all lived to maturity except Marion who was killed by a horse. The youngest of the children was Squire A. Rocket. After serving in the war between the states Squire Bought the last two hunded seventy-five acres of the hone- site from his father for $1200.00. This was in 1868. He married Frances Ann Dorsey of Sterret and brought his bride to the Rockett home. They had two children Marion F., born in 1870, and Fred Dorsey. Marion continued to live on the home place. He married Helen N. Stoker of Lancaster. John Rocket died in 1868 and was buried in a family cemetery on the Rockett home site. Some other members of the family were burred at Bell's Chapel Cemetery.
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Sand
Lake
Sand Lake is a small,
dispersed farming community near Kaufman County, twelve miles east of
Ennis.
Sanderson
Community
Named for G.C. Sanderson,
who settled in the area in 1869, the Sanderson community is located about one
and a half miles southeast of Bardwell.
Sardis
Sardis is halfway between
Midlothian and Waxahachie and is one of the earliest settlements in the county
(1845). A post office was established in 1866 and the town was named Hurley
Station. In 1888 the name was changed to Saralvo and the town consisted of a
church, cotton gin, store and blacksmith shop. The post office was discontinued
in 1907 and the town became known as Sardis. The origin of the town's three
names is unknown.
Sterrett
Located in northern Ellis
County, Sterrett was named for early settler James Sterrett. The town received
railroad service on the Missouri, Kansas and Texas line in 1889. Early Sterrett
had a cotton gin and a post office (established in 1900, discontinued in
1929).
Telico
(Tellico)
Telico is about ten miles
northeast of Ennis near the Trinity River. Probably named after Tellico, N.
C., a plantation and manufacturing town, the original site was called
Trinity City and was about two miles northeast of present-day Telico. In the
1850s Thomas M. McCray opened the Tellico Manufacturing Company. McCray
envisioned the emerging Texas settlement as a major manufacturing hub. Although
Telico never became the manufacturing town that McCray hoped it would be,
farmers settled the area for the agricultural opportunities it offered. The
original community was abandoned around 1900 in favor of the present site which
was considered safer than the flood-prone area near the river.
Trumbull
Trumbull is a small
community in northeastern Ellis County. It was first called "The Switch' when
the Houston and Texas Central railroad built a switch through the town. The town
was renamed Trumbull in 1904 in honor of a railroad official. Trumbull was later served by the
Southern Pacific and the Texas Electric Interurban Line.
Union Hill
Union Hill is a small
farming settlement southeast of Bristol, first settled in 1867 by John and
Martha Ann Davis Mullican.
Waxahachie |
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Waxahachie, the county
seat and largest city in Ellis County, is 15 miles northwest of
Ennis. The town was named
Waxahachie after the Indian name for a creek that runs nearby. Early settler Emory W. Rogers
built a log house on the site where the present-day Rogers Hotel
stands. The first structures
included a church, jail and a courthouse. The first courthouse was a log
structure that was moved from Dallas County to the location near the early
Rogers homestead. The town
was incorporated in 1870 and commercial activity was centered around the
courthouse square area. |
Ice Wagon |
Agriculture was an important
part of early Waxahachie's settlement.
Although cotton was the predominant crop, little of it was grown until
after the Civil War. The lack of
farm labor forced growers to rely on crops that did not require intensive labor,
like wheat, corn, sweet potatoes and oats.
The town was bypassed in
favor of Ennis by the Houston and Texas Central Railroad in 1872 and the first
rail line did not reach the city unfit 1879 (Houston and Texas Central
Railroad). The Missouri
Kansas-Texas reached Waxahachie in 1886 and the Trinity and Brazos Valley
Railroad arrived in 1907. The
Interurban line from Dallas to Waco was expanded to include Waxahachie in
1912.
The arrival of the railroads
was a key factor in the subsequent growth and prosperity of Waxahachie. Its location between Dallas and Waco
allowed the town to import manufactured items and to export raw goods. One of Waxahachie's most profitable
exports was cotton and equipment was easily available from larger neighboring
cities to process the crop. As a
result, a large amount of cotton was grown, harvested and shipped via the
railroad, generating huge profits for the growers, processors and the
railroads.
The town experienced a boom
during the late 19th- and early 20th centuries as a result of the flourishing
cotton economy. A new courthouse
was constructed which remains one of Waxahachie's most spectacular
structures. Concurrently,
structures in the downtown area were built, as well as many of the impressive
west-end residences. In addition,
many educational, social and religious buildings were constructed during the
economic boom. The first hospital
was built in 1921 and citizens donated money for the construction of several
public facilities, including the Sims Library and Getzendaner Park.
Waxahachie continued to
prosper unfit the late 1920s, when the economy floundered due to a competitive
market from increased West Texas cotton production. Many of the cotton gins, mills and
compresses were abandoned as cotton prices plummeted from the effects of higher
production and the economic Depression in the 1930s. Although Waxahachie's economy has never
been as prosperous as in the cotton boom era, the town's proximity to Dallas has
attracted several manufacturing plants since the early 1970s.