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COOLIDGE,
TEXAS
Limestone County, North Central Texas
Hwy 171 and FM 73
11 miles NW of Mexia
36 miles SE of Hillsboro
23
miles NW of Groesbeck
Population:
848 (2000)
Book
Your Hotel Here & Save
Hillsboro
Hotels |
|
One of the
former banks in Coolidge
TE Photo |
|
| History
in a Pecan Shell
Like several Texas towns we could name, Coolidge was misspelled for awhile.
It went by the name Cooledge for 27 years - from 1903 to 1930. President Calvin
Coolidge was president from 1923 to 1929 - and seeing his name in print so often
may have led someone to investigate. But like Lincoln, Texas, Coolidge was not
named after a president, but someone else. In this case it was a mere stockholder
in the Trinity and Brazos Valley Railroad. We are happy to report that
Roosevelt, Texas was named after
Teddy Roosevelt, and while we're mentioning Teddy - his son Kermit had the County
Seat of Winkler County named after him. |
| | Coolidge
today
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, April 2006 |
| | Early
1900s Coolidge Street Scene
Photo courtesy texasoldphotos.com |
Back to Limestone
County - Coolidge was born because of the railroad and nearly died because of
the railroad. The railroad abandoned its rails through Coolidge in 1942, but it
managed to hang on, even though it never again reached its high water mark of
1,150 that it held in the 1930s.
It's a nice little place to visit.
© John Troesser |
| | | A
closed old gas station
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, April 2006 | |
| | | The
US post office
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, April 2006 | |
Coolidge Texas Forum
Story about
Coolidge, TX
The following is an excerpt from the writings of Archibald Flint Watkins,
younger brother of my husband’s grandfather. (This unpublished manuscript was
written in 1956, two years before Flint’s death.) He moved to Tehuacana,
Texas, from a farm six miles east of Wildcat Crossing and one mile south of
Crossroads in Henderson County, when he was about 7 years old:
It was not
many months after my visit to Mrs. Yarborough’s home at Concord that the Trinity
and Brazos Valley (T&BV) railroad was built and missed both Armour and Concord
- about half way between on a high hill in what was known as the Bob Bell Pasture.
There a town was built which was named Coolidge - for one of the Railroad officials.
The first building in Coolidge was a railroad passenger depot - then followed
the cotton gin, the blacksmith shop and chili joint. The Robbins family - grandfather,
son and grandson - ran the Blacksmith shop. They were recent immigrants from Norway
and brought the trade to Texas direct from their homeland. Grandfather Robbins
was especially noted for his handmade pocket knives and rather fine cutlery in
general.
After several months of feverish preparation of streets and building
of the Blacksmith shop and other necessary buildings, the town site promoters
took unlimited space in the newspapers of the neighboring towns to advertise a
“Grand Opening and a Lot sale in the Bonny New Town of Coolidge."
One
Monday morning the T. and B. V. R.R. ran a special train and picked up passengers
at each station along the line to attend and participate in the sale of business
and dwelling lots When that train passed through Tehuacana Station a friend and
I boarded it and really took in the big celebration. We were about fourteen or
fifteen - just the right age to be impressed with such an affair.
Within
a year or so Coolidge had 40 or 50 residences, 2 or 3 churches, 6 or 8 stores
a brick school building and a bank - it was really a town, not just a community
center.
- From Wanda Watkins, November 20, 2005 |
| | An
old neon sign
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, April 2006 |
| |
Subject: Coolidge,
Tx
My dad's family are from there. We lived there until I turned 6yrs
old and I can remember walking down main street to the ice house with my sisters
pulling a wagon to get a block of ice to take back home to make home made ice
cream. All the kids in town walked everywhere that they needed to go. We even
had a man that had candy in his garage that you could buy. It sure was good. We
didn't get candy a lot like you can now adays. I loved staying with my grandma
because i could stay up late and listen to all of the old folk talk about the
old days while they were playing dominoes and eating grandma's fried pies and
tea cakes. Boy I sure do miss those days.
I have a cousin that has written
a book on the history of Limestone county. You can only view it at the McLennan
Library and it can not be checked out. His name is Ray Waters and
it is the History of Limestone County. - Denise (Miles) Krumnow,
June 27, 2005
Subject:
Coolidge, Texas Update
There
have been a few improvements to the city since your initial webpage...
[Note] the progress in the historical restoration of the railroad depot as
a museum which will house a late 19th century linotype and hand operated
printing press as well as the annual Mesquite Tree Festival. It would certainly
help remove such a negative portrayal of my home town.
They did repaint
the water tower from that un-Godly yellow and black. - Former Coolidge resident,
David Webb, Angleton, TX, January 17, 2004 |
| | The
Coolidge water tower, yesterday and today
L - TE Photo, R - Courtesy Barclay
Gibson, April 2006 | |
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