|
|
BLUM, TEXAS
Hill County, North
Central Texas
FM 933 and FM 67
15 miles NW of Hillsboro
Near the northern edge of Lake Whitney
Population:
399(2000) 358(1990)
|
Ghost
sign
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, July 2007 |
History in
a Pecan Shell
The town was named for Leon Blum,
a prominent Galveston
merchant and railroad official.
Philip Nolan
was reportedly capturing horses in the area long before Texas Independence.
Real settlement didn't get underway until the 1880s with the arrival
of the railroad (the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe). The town was platted
on land belonging to one W. H. Taylor who sold farmland as city lots.
A post office was granted in 1882, and the first school opened the
following year.
Blum was the home of Gus Bailey, the husband of Circus Queen Mollie
Bailey. He remained in Blum because of poor health while Mollie traveled
all over the state managing the circus.
The population of Blum was just over 300 in 1890 and it surpassed
1,000 by 1908.
That same year over 5,000 bales of cotton were ginned and shipped
and the town incorporated in 1913. The population dropped to 550 in
the 1920s and it declined further to 403 during the Great Depression. |
 |
| Photo
courtesy Barclay Gibson, July 2007 |
The Town's
Namesake - Leon Blum, 1837-1906
Leon Blum, businessman
and philanthropist, was born in Alsace, in 1837, immigrating to Texas
in 1854. His first store in Richmond moved to Galveston
in 1869 and he reportedly became the largest importer of dry goods
in the state.
His interest in cotton led him
to invest in the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway, resulting in
Blum, Texas being named in his honor in 1881.
He contributed to the Bayland Orphans' Home for Boys and to various
schools. He died at Galveston
and was buried in the Hebrew Cemetery there.
Book
Your Hotel Here & Save
Hillsboro
Hotels
More Hotels
|
Blum
Methodist Church
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, July 2007 |
Blum
Baptist Church
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, July 2007 |
Blum
street scene
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, July 2007 |
Blum
Cemetery
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, July 2007 |
Blum
Cemetery Historical Marker
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, July 2007 |
|
|
