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Mud Creek out
of its banks in the early 1900s
Photo courtesy Arcadia Publishing and
The Cherokee County Historical Commission |
History in
a Pecan Shell
Ponta began life
in 1901 as "Donaho." When it was bypassed by the Texas and
New Orleans Railroad, another town was soon surveyed. Named "Hubb"
after the surveyor Hubbard Guinn, storekeeper Robert Montgomery changed
the name to the Latin word for bridge when he became postmaster in
1903. Mr. Mongomery had moved his business from Donaho and had a vested
interest in the community's future. Although the name was Latin, the
watercourse was still over Mud Creek.
Ponta got a bank and before long it developed all the essential businesses
for an up-and-coming town. They even had a doctor and a Masonic Lodge.
Like the rest of East Texas,
timber was the major economic engine until the twenties when people
started noticing the forests rapidly being depleted.
The town lost its post office in 1972 and a decline set in. The bank
failed and the cotton gin closed. Both the doctor and druggist died
and even the Masonic lodge moved (to New
Summerfield). In the1980s, Ponta only had two churches and a few
houses left from its glory days.
The population has been given as 50 since 1970. |
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1907 postal map
showing Ponta in N Cherokee
County
From Texas state map #2090
Courtesy
Texas General Land Office |
| 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
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