ROAD TRIP: A BBM Game

[MaineWriter]

Austonio, TX

Originally called Pearville, the name wasn't popular with residents and so they held a contest in 1930. Ruth Tucker won the contest with the name Austonio - an amalgam of Austin and San Antonio. The fact that the town is easily 250 miles from either city evidently didn't count. A post office was granted in 1932 and in 1940 there were 150 people to call Austonio home. The decline set in after WWII and school consolidation with Lovelady in 1964 shattered any hopes of regaining population. The post office closed its doors in 1971, followed by the other stores that closed one by one.

Leslie

[Meryl]

Oak Leaf, TX



Population 1,209,  located in Texas's Ellis county, about 17.7 miles from Grand Prairie and 18.5 miles from Dallas.

In 1983 a group of one hundred home owners, members of the Red Oak Creek Homeowner's Association, made the decision to incorporate into a city which they named Oak Leaf. The name of the City was chosen due to the multiple creeks and large oak trees in this far northern part of Ellis County.

Through the 90's Oak Leaf's population has grown by about 23%. It is estimated that in recent years Oak Leaf's population has been growing at an annual rate of 1.7 percent.

[jpwagoneer1964]

Foxpark, Wy

[MaineWriter]

Knobbs Springs, TX

Named for three small hills, the area has been known as Knobbs, The Knobbs, Yegua Knobbs or Gleam. It was first settled in the 1860s and Wendish families arrived in the 1880s. The town's prosperity peaked in the 1880s and 90s. In 1889 a post office opened under the name Gleam (no explanation available) and continued operating until 1906.

The community school showed an enrollment of 69 students for the 1905-06 year. It was eventually consolidated with the Lexington ISD in 1950, although the 1919 schoolhouse still stands and is in use as a community center.

As of this writing The Knobbs Springs community consists of the church, cemetery and the former school.

Leslie

[belbbmfan]

Seely, Wyoming

[Meryl]

Ysleta, TX

[MaineWriter]

Ayr, TX

In January 1890 the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway sent fifteen surveyors to survey a potential spur. The FW & D was in competetion with the Santa Fe Railroad and the mission (to create a shipping point for area ranches from Roswell, New Mexico to Big Spring) was a secret one.

Five miles from the center of the county a townsite was platted and named for the Scottish city of Ayr. Early the next spring, land buyers came to the region and settlement was begun. A store was built and a post office opened. Success looked assured - except for the rival town of Grenada. This town, which later changed its name to La Plata, was under the direct control of the XIT Ranch.

The all-too-familiar battle for county seat status began. It looked so serious that Texas Rangers were stationed at Ayr as a precaution. In October of 1890, La Plata won the election. The count was 97-7. There were allegations of fraud, but the vote stood. The spur project was abandoned and the post office was discontinued.

Ayr's brief life-span was a mere five years.

Leslie

[jpwagoneer1964]

Rancho Alegre, Tx

[belbbmfan]

Erith, Alberta

[MaineWriter]

Hempstead, TX

 The town was named after Dr. G.S.B. Hempstead from Portsmouth, Ohio. An oil painting of Doctor Hempstead is on display in the Hempstead Library.

1856: The Hempstead Town Company is formed in anticipation of the railroad's arrival.
June 1858: The town becomes the terminus for the Houston and Texas Central Railroad.
November 1858: The Washington County Railroad from Hempstead to Brenham is opened
1857: post office is established
1861-1865: Hempstead was a manufacturing center and had three encampments of Confederate troops stationed in the vicinity. A prisoner of war camp was also located in Hempstead.
1866: After the war, Union troops were stationed there throughout reconstruction, much like nearby Brenham. George Armstrong Custer is stationed in Hempstead for a time.
1873: Becomes Waller County seat
1872 & 1876: Fires destroy much of the downtown section of Hempstead
1881: First public school opened
1891: First newspaper started as The Weekly News
1899: Hempstead is disincorporated
1935: Hempstead is reincorporated
Captain Alfred H. Wyly is buried in the Hempstead Cemetery.


L