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"I almost hit the goats as I turned onto the east bound street. A blood hound
type dog, followed by two small children were trying to round them up." Mike
Price, August 2009. More Texas
Animals |
Myra History in
a Pecan ShellLike
many Texas towns, Myra was named
after a woman. In this case Myra was the daughter of the railroad’s construction
superintendent. The railroad was the Gainesville, Henrietta and Western and the
year was 1887. The rails were heading westward from Gainesville
to Henrietta and Myra became a stop on the line.
A
landowning company decided to plat a town on the south side of the tracks in 1900
and the company’s agent (Geo. Aldridge) starting selling town lots – but recording
sales in the county records as being in Aldridge, Texas. The post office retained
the name Myra and George Aldridge lost his bid on his self-named town. Both communities
became “greater” Myra.
Oil was discovered in Cooke County in 1898 and
one of the early wells was in Myra. But even before the town could arrange a boom,
drillers found that the well wouldn’t bring up enough oil to justify further exploration.
In 1902 the town’s water infrastructure was started and telephone service was
begun. A hospital was established in 1914 by the town’s druggist and Myra received
electricity in 1919 when a generating plant was built.
Although Myra wasn’t
abandoned by the railroad, it was bypassed by the new highway (82) when it was
built in the early 1930s. Businesses moved to the county seat and the population
declined.
By 1988 the population was 70 – the same estimate given for
the 2000 census. |
A
Day Trip to Myra, Texas |
ICE
25LB 10C
Photo courtesy Mike
Price, August 2009 |
Myra
water tank
Photo courtesy Mike
Price, August 2009 | |
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