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History in
a Pecan Shell
French explorer René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle (whose statue
and marble bust stand in nearby Navasota
(Grimes County) reportedly camped in the area as early as 1687. La
Salle reported a cluster of Indian huts on the site that would eventually
be named for settler J. B. Dacus. In the early 1820s, settler Francis
A. B. Wheeler homesteaded here. Wheeler was lonely and in order to
have neighbors to talk to he offered plots of land to newly-arrived
families.
Dacus was granted a post office in 1889 although the mail was only
received semi-weekly. Things were quiet in Dacus but around 1907 the
railroad arrived. In this case it was the Trinity and Brazos Valley
Railroad. In the mid-teens Dacus had a respectable population of 100
with two stores and a blacksmith.
There was little to report from the 20s through the 40s, but after
WWII the railroad
became part of the Burlington Northern and Rock Island. Dacus was
already in decline by that time - with just the depot, a church, and
a few houses. Another change of ownership occurred in 1962 the Chicago,
Rock Island and Pacific absorbed the railroad. It has since become
the Burlington Northern - Santa Fe (BNSF). (See also Texas
Railroads.)
The population was reported as 161 in the early 1970s - a figure that
the census felt comfortable with since they've been using it to the
present).
Dacus has kept its store, church and the town's two highway nameplates
are both mounted on the same pole. |
Dacus'
Center of Activity
Photo courtesy Ken
Rudine, October 2007 |
Dacus
Texas Memorial Cross
TE photo, May 2006 |
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