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Downtown
Neches. Notice the sign of "J.B. McDonald & Son"
Photo Courtesy
Lori
Martin, 2005 |
History in a Pecan
shell
J.
J. Davis and Murdock McDonald, local landowners,
donated the land for a townsite and depot when the International-Great Northern
Railroad arrived in 1872.
A post office was opened about the same time
- listed on the post office department rolls as "Nechesville."
Neches
had a population of 100 by 1884 with a school and all essential businesses (including
two steam sawmills and a Masonic lodge).
Just after the Civil War, the
nearby Stovall Academy moved into town and was renamed the Neches Normal Institute.
This later became Neches High School.
By 1890 Neches had an estimated
population of 400 people. The town officially changed its name from Nechesville
to Neches in 1892.
Neches had a population of 261 in 1900, reaching 400
in the 1920s and 1930s. By 1939 it had reached its zenith at 900 townspeople (estimate).
Increased mobility after WWII
took a toll on the population. By 1949 it was down to just 280 and it has declined
further to a mere 111 in 1970. |
 |
A
former gas station in Neches.
2000 Photo Courtesy Lori
Martin |
Main
street Neches seen from the other side of the tracks.
Photo courtresy Terry
Jeanson, July 2007 |
Historical
marker for Murdoch McDonald, the founder of Neches.
Photo courtresy Terry
Jeanson, July 2007 |
Neches
Texas ForumSubject:
Colorful Days of Old
Neches
...
During the early '30's, a fire broke out across the tracks from what is now downtown
Neches. Neches used to be twice as large, but the fire burned half the town...
more - Roxanna
Posey, Canton, TX, September 06, 2006
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