|
Old
Boston Highway Sign
Photo courtesy Gerald
Massey, August 2010
|
History in
a Pecan Shell
Settled
in the early 1830s, the town wasn’t named for the Massachusetts city,
but for storekeeper W. J. Boston. When Bowie
County was organized in 1841, Boston (as it was then called)
became the county seat. A post office was granted in 1846.
The town’s population on the eve of the Civil War was estimated to
be between 300 to 400 people. In 1876 the Texas and Pacific Railroad
was heading toward Dallas
but the surveyors took a northern route, bypassing Boston by about
four miles. Businessmen asked the railroad if they would consider
building their depot directly north of the existing town and they
complied with the request. The new town was given the name of New
Boston.
Despite the new town, the community of Boston remained the county
seat, even though it shrank to a population of just 75 people by the
early 1880s. Texarkana
yearned to be county seat, even though it wasn’t anywhere near the
center of the county. Boston’s population fell to a mere 50 people
as Texarkana won county
seat status.
But the competition wasn’t over. Angry at having to go all the way
to Texarkana for courthouse
business, central Bowie
County citizens complained and their complaints were heard.
A new courthouse was built 2.5 miles north of the original town of
Boston and the post office was moved there in 1890.
The designation of Old Boston was used more frequently, until
it became official and today the county seat of Boston
sits equidistant between the Old and New
Bostons.
See
Old
Boston Historical Marker
Bowie County
Courthouse |
 |
|
Old
Boston Historical Marker
Junction of FM 2149 and Hwy 8
Photo courtesy Gerald
Massey, August 2010
|
Historical Marker:
Old Boston
Established while
part of Mexico; to serve plantations on Red River. Mail came horseback
from Arkansas. Named for W. J. Boston, first storekeeper. A battalion
was formed here to fight in Texas Revolution.
First Bowie County
Seat, 1841. Large stores surrounded square and two-story brick courthouse.
Became educational center with 3 fine private schools. Texas governors
Hardin R. Runnels and S. W. T. Lanham have lived here.
New Boston (4 mi. N) founded on railroad,
1877. Boston (1 mi. S), exact county
center, made county seat 1890, and this became "Old" Boston.
(1966) |
Old Boston Methodist
Church
Photo
courtesy Gerald
Massey, August 2010 |
Shady
Grove Baptist Church
Photo
courtesy Gerald
Massey, August 2010 |
| Texas
Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories,
landmarks and recent or vintage photos, please contact
us. |
|
|
HOME
