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replica of the first Atascosa County Courthouse (c.1856) at Amphion. Photo Courtesy
Terry
Jeanson, October 2004 |
History in a Pecan
Shell
The listing for Amphion in the Handbook of Texas states that
"Some have claimed that Amphion was the first county seat [of Atascosa County].
The courthouse above is a replica of the county's 1856 courthouse that now occupies
a place across the street from the current Atascosa
County courthouse in Jourdanton.
Although a post office was opened in 1881 (closed 1916), no one seems to remember
the origin of the town's name. The town had two cotton gins and a store by 1887
and by the mid 1890s, the number of residents was around 100 and town businesses
included a hotel. Amphion had both a school and Masonic lodge prior to 1900. The
school had 72 students taught by two teachers by 1904 and Amphion's future looked
rosy. But when the Artesian Belt Railroad bypassed the town in 1909, the writing
was on the wall. The population remained at 100 for a few years, but as businesses
moved to Jourdanton, the decline became evident.
Enrollement shrank and the town settled into a long decline. The town managed
to keep the school open through the Great Depression but after WWII
and school consolidation, Amphion was labeled a ghost town by the mid-1950s. |
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Although there is
no cemetery marked Amphion on the Atascosa County map, the name Amphion appears
surrounded by four nearby cemeteries (Rodriquez, Alvarado, Herrera and Willborn).
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