Recommended
Books on Texas Town Names
by Bill Bradfield
& Clare Bradfield |
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|
Wonder Why They Named It That?
by Archie P. McDonald, PhD | |
Breathes
there a soul so dead, so a poet once said, who never to himself has said -- why
did they call (name) it that?
This can refer to tools, cuisine, or anything
else, but this article poses the question for villages, towns, and other gatherings
in East Texas. Fortunate, I know a fellow who can tell us.
Fred Tarpley,
who once upon a time taught English at what is now Texas A&M -- Commerce, now
does so at Jarvis Christian College. His 1001 Texas Place Names, published
by the University of Texas Press, provides such information and more about Texas
towns.
Did you know that:
Abe, in Houston County, was
named for Abraham B. Thomas, the town's first postmaster;
Adsul,
in Newton County, drew its name for the Adams-Sullivan Lumber Company, which built
a sawmill there in 1906;
Apple Springs, in Trinity County, got
its identification from the abundance of May apples growing near natural springs;
Barnum, in Polk County, provides opportunity for argument--it was
named for showman Phineas T. Barnum, a friend of W.T. Carter, who established
a sawmill there, but some say it was named after the founder of a sawmill in Groveton;
Beans Creek, in Cherokee County, got its moniker from Cherokee Chief
Little Bean, rather than the vegetable;
Bessmay, also in Jasper
County, was so named by John H. Kirby, after his daughter, when he built a sawmill
there in 1900;
Bug
Tussle, in Fannin County, was named for a favorite picnic site for Sunday
School classes, and the wags say that after the picnic there was nothing to do
but watch the bugs tussle;
Chester, in Tyler County, was named
for U.S. President Chester A. Arthur, who resided in the White House when the
community was founded in 1883;
Choice, in Shelby County, got its
identity from the stubbornness of early leaders who were offered three potential
names for their community by the post office department and told to "pick your
choice," so they chose Choice;
Dixie, in Grayson, Panola, and
several other counties, drew its moniker from Confederate veteran settlers who
evidently were not quite Reconstructed; and
Etoile, in Nacogdoches
County, was named by a settler from France who thought he had found his "star"--he
doubtless pronounced it "a-twile" but everyone else says "e-toil."
Reckon
Fred just made this up?
All
Things Historical
April 29-May 5, 2001
Published by permission.
A syndicated column in over
40 East Texas newspapers
(Archie P. McDonald is Director of the East Texas
Historical Association and author or editor of over 20 books on Texas) |
| The
Naming of Texas Towns
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