Towns of Nolan Co. TX
In the late 1880's the Roscoe area was unfenced ranch country. The Texas & Pacific railroad laid rails through the area in 1881. Old immigrant maps of 1889 show a switch on the railroad about one half mile from the present Roscoe, it was called Katula which was only a flag stop and arrangements had to be made ahead of time for the trains to stop to attach cattle cars.
During 1894 the "wet weather" lakes filled around Katula and the switch and box car depot were moved to the present Roscoe location.
Among the first for Roscoe were:
The present Roscoe is a far cry from the pioneer days of more than eighty years ago. The pioneers with wagons and teams followed the Texas and Pacific Railroad to the Blackland Divide to the Roscoe area.
The first newspaper in Roscoe was the Roscoe Enterprise, 1893, owned and operated by Harris and Pipkin. The Roscoe Times is even older than Roscoe as the first copies went into the mail March 10, 1906, a year before the town was incorporated.
Blackwell is located ten miles west of the southeast corner of Nolan County and the south edge of the city is on the county line. It was originally named Jamestown, but upon learning that Texas already had a city by that name, it was changed to Blackwell in honor of an English stockholder in the Orient Railroad. This railroad was built through this area on August 14, 1906, and this date Blackwell had its beginning.
The first school in Blackwell was held in the Primitive Baptist Church in 1907, just north of the present town of Blackwell. In 1908, a two-room frame school house was built, a merger of two small schools, Mt. Carmel and Live Oak Schools. Mr. N.A. Terrel was the first superintendent.
In 1916, a two-story red-brick building was erected on the present school site.
The first schoolhouse was built on Fish Creek near what later became known as Hylton in 1880. The building was of split logs covered with dirt. The nearest trading center was Ft. Chadburn.
There was a post office, two barber shops, four churches, a drugstore, a blacksmith shop and livery stable, two saloons, a dry goods store, a grocery store, a hat shop, and a hardware store.
The first settlers in this district found it inhabited by a tribe of Comanche Indians. The natural resources made it a desirable home for the Indians. There was an abundance of shallow water to be had by diggin only a few feet in low places. There were springs, water holes, and running streams. The hills and cliffs, with their semicaves, gave protection from the weather.
Maryneal was founded in 1907 and was given motive with the building of the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railroad. The Orient camp was set up on what is now the Bridgeford Ranch in 1906. As they started to clear and make thr right of way, a prominent stockholder by the name of Mary Neal, who resided in Fort Worth, stated that she would donate $1,000 toward a school if they would name the town after her.
The town of Wastella had its beginning in the year 1907 when the Roscoe, Snyder and Pacific Railway was constructed through that area. The location is in the extreme northeast corner of Nolan County.
Mr. Will Neeley offered to allow the town to be located on his land provided it should be named for his daughter, Wastella. A sales day was announced and lots were sold with prospects of a well established West Texas town.
The town of Champion, located on Champion Creek, in the extreme western part of Nolan County had its beginning in the year 1905. The town boasted a first class gin, barbershop and a Woodman of the World Lodge. The first store was a general mercantile owned by Alton Griffin. There was Ben Barrett groceries and Elmer Mahon groceries.
Three churches were organized and three church buildings were erected, Methodist, Baptist and Church of Christ.
In the early days of civilization Champion an Indian camp ground was found in Champion creek, some three and one half miles southeast of where Champion town was later located. In this area Metatier were found and arrow head hunters were often seen seeking for Indian artifacts, and with good success.
Decker, a small town, located some eighteen miles south of Sweetwater came into existence in 1898. In its best days it had a general store, a blacksmith shop, a gin, a school and a post office. The first post office was located in the Sedberry home.
The town was named for A. F. Decker, postmaster at Sweetwater when the post office was established.
Aiken School District No. 5 was established in September 1891. Dora School District No. 6 was established the same year. The Aiken schoolhouse was built near the Nolan Cemetery, and the post office was one-half mile due east. The school house was moved in 1908 to Lewis Mahue's place, where it remained until the consolidation in 1928.
There was a grade school called Fairy, and it was consolidated with Dora in 1918. In 1929 Brook, Dora, Nolan and Fairy consolidated. They started building the school building in 1930. It was completed in 1932. In 1936 the post offices united and took the name of Nolan.
The Dora Post office was officially opened on August 20, 1888. The Nolan County Post Office was one mile west of the Luther Finch home. It was moved three miles east, then later moved to the present location, three miles further. The original post office was established in March 1892. W.C. Lee was the first postmaster.
The main crop of this area is cotton. The average yield of wheat per acre is 16 bushels.
Mr. Joe Bruce built the first cotton gin at Nolan in 1900. Britt Lymn built a store at Dora in 1901 and another at Nolan the same year.