Rising Star, TX
Rising Star began with the arrival of six families from Gregg County who settled here in 1876 .The settlement was originally called Copperas Creek but had a name change when D. D. McConnell of Eastland suggested the new name. In 1880, after the old post office had been closed, a man named Tom Anderson opened a post office/ store in his home. By 1889 Rising Star had five businesses and in 1904 it had a bank, hotel, school, two newspapers, and dry goods and drug stores.
The Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad arrived in 1911 when they connected through Cross Plains. The first oil found in Eastland County was near Rising Star in 1909, but the town was spared the boom that Ranger and Breckenridge saw. In 1920 a major discovery was made but city officials went to great lengths to insure order by passing strict regulations. Workers ignored the town and built a camp five miles west. A year later the boom was over and the new town melted away.
Leslie