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SWINNEY
SWITCH, TEXAS
AKA Swinney, TexasTexas
Ghost Town
Live
Oak County, South
Texas
Where FM 534 and FM 3024 intersect
Two tenths of a Mile
W of Hwy 37
12 Miles SE of George
West
Population: Unknown |
Swinney
Switch Church
November 2005 photo courtesy Robin Sellman |
History
in a Pecan Shell
Sidney J. Swinney is the town's namesake.
In 1917 Mr. Swinney opened a store on his 300 acres of land and gave the community
the railroad designation of "switch" thinking that it would be a cinch to attract
a railroad and / or settlers. Mr. Swinney also organized a brush arbor church
which later built a small chapel. The railroads took other routes, leaving the
fledgling community under-developed and unattached to the rest of the world. In
the 1930s only the church and two businesses formed the town but the people residing
in the area retained an active volunteer fire department. |
A
MAN’S VISION…SWINNEY SWITCH! by
Robin Sellman |
I’ve
procrastinated a bit, but I have always wanted to tell what I know of the story
of Swinney Switch.
My great-grandfather was Sidney Johnson Swinney, the owner of the Swinney Switch General Store. He was born May 22, 1875 and died January
3, 1948 at the age of 72. He was married to Julia Reynolds for over 50 years.
“Papa” Swinney, originally a farmer of 117 acres, built the store around
1925-1926. The original store was a small frame building, but about a year later,
he built a new building out of rock. Although other businesses have claimed to
be the “original” Swinney Switch store, the small white building at the bottom
of the hill was the original establishment. |
The
original Swinney Switch Store
November 2005 photo courtesy Robin Sellman |
Julia
and Sidney Swinney, Store Proprietors
Vintage photo courtesy Robin Sellman |
Located
on the west side of the intersection of FM 3024 (old Highway 9) and FM 534, the
store was also the gathering place for those wanting to play a good game of dominoes
with Swinney. It was common for customers to wait on themselves in the store if
he was in the middle of a game. He would remind them to write their purchases
down in the log. He trusted everyone.
The store was a general store
where customers could buy staples, produce, crackers and canned goods out of the
shelves, and ice-cold soda pops, and tobacco. He also sold bologna & cheese out
of his coke box. He would sell it by the chunks because he did not own a meat
slicer. There was no alcohol sold in Papa’s store!
Outside, Swinney
sold gasoline. In the early years, the oil company would not let the store have
a pump, so the gas was pumped from two 50-gallon barrels. Eventually, he was able
to modernize by installing two gas pumps.
Joyce Swinney Lemma of Corpus
Christi, granddaughter of Sid and Julia Swinney, remembers the summers at the
store fondly. She recalled, “I pumped many a gallon of gas when I would be helping
him in the summers. Papa would be playing dominoes and asked me to wait on the
customers. This was when gasoline was rationed, and we had to collect ration
stamps for each gallon of gas. Once, I forgot to collect the stamps and had to
chase the customer to the intersection to get them. When I told Papa, he scolded
me and told me never to do that again. Now, I see how dangerous it was.”
Mrs. Lemma also recalled her Papa selling sweets, a favorite of any child.
“He also had a glassed-in candy counter, and he would let me select one piece
each day. Nannie (Julia Swinney) would wake from her nap around 4:00 p.m., and
we had a cold Dr. Pepper every day. Those are some nice memories.” |
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Swinney
Switch Logo
Courtesy Robin Sellman |
Sid
Swinney had great hopes of luring the railroad through the area and to “switch”
at his store because he believed that it would be good for business. He had visions
of helping build a town. He is the one that named the settlement “Swinney Switch”
in hopes of getting the attention of Missouri-Pacific Railroad. That dream was
never realized, and the railroad went by Dinero
instead. He was forced to close the store in 1943 because of failing health.
In addition to the store, Swinney desperately wanted to build a church to
further the Kingdom of God. He was a deeply religious man. After meeting under
a brush arbor for quite some time, Swinney donated an acre land that the church
was eventually built on. The Baptist church was organized in 1932. It was pastored
through most of its history by Reverend Carroll Jones. The University of Corpus
Christi supplied “fill in” pastors in the later years of the church. Rev. Jones
eventually presided over the funeral service of Papa Swinney in 1948.
In his eulogy, Reverend Jones gave an accounting of Swinney’s life and told of
his persistence in having the church built. He recounted the sacrifices Papa Swinney
made to build and pay for the church and how many lives were changed because of
the influence of Sid J. Swinney. During the funeral service, Rev. Jones quoted
Swinney as saying “I would give anything in this world if I could just live a
better life.” He said, “I love God, but sometimes I am just not able to show Him
how much I love Him.”
The church and property reverted back to
Swinney’s estate when the church disbanded somewhere around 1968. It was later
donated to the South Texas Children’s Home, Mineral,
Texas.
Copyright
Robin Sellman | |
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