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History
in a Pecan ShellThe
land had been deeded as long ago as 1831 but it wasn’t until the 1880s when the
railroad arrived that the town
was established. The first railroad was the Missouri, Kansas and Texas, which
was soon followed by the Texas and New Orleans.
Montreville Woods was one
of the two original owners. It was the Woods family that built a stockade here
and for sometime the region south of the Colorado River was called Wood’s Prairie.
A post office was granted in 1894 when West Point had most essential businesses
including two doctors, three hotels and a cannery.
The construction of
Highway 71 one mile south of the railroad tracks caused a sizable portion of the
populace to move toward the highway.
The community had a population of
300 during the 1940s. Students attended classes in La
Grange, and by 1950 the population had shrunk by nearly half. Agriculture
consists of growing corn which is supplemented by oil and gas. The 1990 census
reported 205 and those numbers are used again for the 2000 count. |
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1930s
Fayette County map showing West Point W of La
Grange
Courtesy Texas General Land Office |
1907
Fayette County postal map showing West Point W of La
Grange
Courtesy Texas General Land Office | |
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