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WHON, TEXAS
Texas Ghost Town
Coleman County, Texas Panhandle / Texas Hill Country
"Touched by a Ranch Hand"
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| About 12 miles
south of Santa Anna going
toward Brady on Hwy
283 you'll see the sign for Whon. Being only four letters
it's easy to miss. If you pass the Colorado River you've gone
too far. |
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What
was once thought to be the geographic center of Texas and
was in fact, the country's only drive-in post office.
TE photo 2000 |
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The same building
in April 2007
Photo Courtesy Bruce D. White |
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History
in a Pecan Shell
The road to Whon was only paved in 1967. Whon is one of only a handful
of Texas towns that is a misspelling of a ranch worker's name.
Mrs. Sam McCain,
the postmistress, thought it would be nice if Juan (last name forgotten)
had the Post Office named after him. Juan may have been flattered
but he never corrected Mrs. McCain's spelling.
The town
cemetery was created when Mrs. McCain's infant daughter drowned
in a stock tank. Whon still had a ZIP code (76889) as of 2000, but
we were unable to find the cemetery.
Our June, 2000 visit found that the building that was once known
as "The Only Drive-In Post Office in the Country" was
still standing. The outbuildings were bulldozed into a big heap.
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The
other 50% of Whon
TE photo 2000 |
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| "The
second building is one of the former stores. It is is much worse shape,
with the structure rotted and dangerously unstable." - Photo
and caption courtesy Bruce D. White, April 11, 2007 |
The
Coleman County History book we consulted mentions Whon as being the
geographic center of Texas. We don't mention this to stir up trouble
with McCulloch County, we're just mentioning it. After we consulted
the Handbook of Texas, we found that the discrepancy was due
to a surveyor's 10-mile mistake. See Center
City, Texas.
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©
John Troesser |
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Photographer's
Note:
My family were pioneer settlers of Brown and Coleman Counties. This
includes the Simmons and Fiveash families. My Great-grandfather, Thomas
Jefferson Simmons II owned one of the original general stores in Whon
and his brother, George Washington Simmons had a large farm south
of Whon. I made a visit on 11 April 2007 to explore and record the
area of my ancestry. What I found was a major change from the [2001]
entry on Texas Escapes.
The Whon "Drive Through" Post Office is severally dilapidated and
disintegrating. The front over hang has totally collapsed and the
building is being used to store junk. It is weathered badly and will
not last much longer.
The second building is one of the former stores. It is is much worse
shape, with the structure rotted and dangerously unstable. It is filled
with bales of rotting hay. I did find a very rusted Grape Nehi soft
drink sign that had fallen off of it.
The little house is still there and boarded up, with a travel trailer
parked behind.
The Whon Cemetery is in very nice shape, with the single exception
of the covered portico is rotten and falling apart. - Bruce D.
White, Austin, Texas, April 11, 2007 |
Whon, Texas
Forum
Subject:
Whon Cemetery
For the Whon
Cemetery location, coming from FM 2633 to the Whon Post Office
(ex), you follow the paved road which would be to your right. Drive
past the end of pavement and take the first right again. The Cemetery
is about one-eighth of a mile from the corner. Work is being done
to it at the present time. If things go as planned, the cemetery will
be enclosed by new fencing and the entire area free of wild brush.
Hopefully this will meet with interested parties' approval.
Whon once had two gas stations, three churches, a school and a high
school, a cotton gin, a barber shop, a laundromat and a grocery cum
drug store along with its post office. It also had a Community Center
and even a cafe when the gin was in operation. The community was thriving
until the early forties when it began to dwindle gradually. Hence,
Whon is no longer on any maps of recent printing. It has a population
of between 30 and 35 citizens, not including cows or other animals.
- Trudi Rutherford, June 22, 2001
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