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History in
a Pecan Shell
In 1870 the Texas legislature voted on a bill for the creation of
Delta County. One of the sponsors for this bill was L. W. Cooper of
Houston and it was Cooper the county seat was named after. The town
was granted a post office the following year and Cooper incorporated
in 1881. The population in 1885 was 300. |
Further growth
was enhanced by the construction of the Texas Midland Railroad. By
1896 Cooper had an estimated population of 1,000 with two churches
and all the essential businesses a growing town needed including two
feed mills, two cotton gins, two blacksmiths and two weekly newspapers.
The town also supported an unheard of (even for a county seat) seven
general stores. Since the rest of Delta County was made up of smaller
towns, Cooper's growth continued for years. Its high-water mark was
reached in 1925 when 2,563 people called the town home.
The population predictably declined during the 1930s, grew somewhat
after WWII and underwent another decline in the 1980s. It reached
2,349 in the early 50s and went nearly unchanged for the next 20 years
(2,258 in 1970).
The former railroad depot is now in use as the Delta County museum.
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| "The
roads around the old courthouse square in Cooper are paved with red
brick. The current courthouse
is actually one block west of the square. This gazebo sits on the
foundation of the 1900
courthouse." - Terry
Jeanson, June 2007 |
Delta
County Courthouses
Cooper Chronicles:
The
Smith Brothers by Bob Bowman ("All Things Historical")
Four brothers from Delta County lived with an ordinary name in the
mid-1800s, but they were far from ordinary... In 1968, the Texas
Historical Commission erected a state historical marker to
the Smiths' legacy on a site three and a half miles west of Cooper
beside Texas Highway 64.
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