|
Lanham Mill Community
Historical Marker
Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson, August 2013 |
Historical Marker
Lanham Mill
Community
William and Mary
E. Lanham and their family came to Texas from Tennessee about 1870.
They purchased land and settled on a farm at the confluence of the
Paluxy River and White Bluff Creek in what was at that time Hood County.
William Lanham was one of 406 citizens who signed the 1875 petition
to the State Legislature that led to the creation of Somervell
County out of portions of Hood
County.
By 1877 Lanham and a partner, T. J. Hamick, owned a grist mill located
on the Paluxy River about halfway between Glen
Rose and Paluxy. They built a cotton
gin about 1881, and continued in business until a fire destroyed the
entire facility in 1898.
The area around the mill operation became known as the Lanham Mill
Community. In addition to the mill and gin, the community included
farms, churches, a public school, and a community cemetery. Although
land for the cemetery was not formally deeded until 1893, headstones
reveal that burials occurred here as early as 1879.
The community gradually declined in the early 20th century, and by
1947 the school was closed.
The Lanham Mill Cemetery remains as the last physical remnant of a
once-thriving rural community.
(1997) |
 |
Lanham Mill Cemetery
showing above historical marker
Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson, August 2013 |
Photographer’s
Note:
“The cemetery appears to be all that is left.” |
| Texas
Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories,
landmarks and recent or vintage photos, please contact
us. |
|
|
HOME
