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Former
Sinclair gas station
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, February 2008
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Gustine's
History
as told in the Gustine Entry in the Handbook of Texas Online:
Gustine, in southeastern Comanche County, was settled about 1873 by
H. H. Blankenship and M. B. Odell. The first settlement, which was
called Old Evergreen, was about three-quarters of a mile northeast
of the present site. The post office was established on January 6,
1888, with Samuel Gustine, for whom the town is named, as first postmaster.
Religious services were held under a tree until a union church was
built. The first store was built in 1889. In the early 1890s the town
was moved to its present site to take advantage of a newly opened
road between Comanche and Hamilton. By 1895 the town had eight or
ten residences, a school, a cotton gin, a corn mill, and a general
store. Aided by the arrival of the Cotton Belt line (officially known
as the St. Louis Southwestern Railway of Texas) in 1911, Gustine thrived;
its three churches, two banks, one newspaper, and other businesses
served a population of 900 in 1914. The next year Gustine was incorporated.
In 1940 its population was only 409, but it remained at roughly that
level through the mid-1960s. The community's population reached a
low of 324 in 1980, but by 1986 a population of 416, a bank, eight
other businesses, and a post office were reported there. In the 1980s
Gustine was an agricultural community with an economy based on cattle,
goats, hogs, grain, peanuts, pecans, and fruits. In 1990 the population
was 430.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Comanche County Bicentennial Committee, Patchwork
of Memories: Historical Sketches of Comanche County, Texas (Brownwood,
Texas: Banner Printing, 1976). Kathleen E. and Clifton R. St. Clair,
eds., Little Towns of Texas (Jacksonville, Texas: Jayroe Graphic
Arts, 1982). Tracey L. Compton |
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