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BLOOMING
GROVE, TEXASAKA
Gradyville
Navarro County, North Central Texas
Highway 22 and FM 55
15 miles W of Corsicana
Population:
833 (2000) |
| | The
First United Methodist Church in Blooming Grove
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson,
July 2005 |
History
in a Pecan Shell
The Methodist Mission (est. 1869) built a white church
in the vicinity - which became known as White Church. Nearby, settlers grouped
around a general store and in 1871 citizens voted on a name for their community
- settling on Blooming Grove, named after Blooming Grove, Illinois, the hometown
of popular resident and Doctor John Davis.
When the St. Louis Southwestern
Railway arrived around 1881, the town moved a mile to be on the rail line and
Blooming Grove merged with White Church community. From a population of 200 in
1884, it quadrupled to 800 in six short years.
The town was hit hard by
the Great Depression and suffered a drastic reduction in population. From its
high-water mark of 1,500 in 1933, by the mid 30s it had fallen to just over 800
- about the same number that appeared on the state map in 2004. |
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