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History in
a Pecan Shell
D. T. Bozeman,
settled here in the early 1890s and established a wagon yard and store.
He also taught school nearby. When a post office was set up in the
Bozeman store, Emily (first postmistress) and D.T. submitted the requested
name of Cuthbert - to honor their friend Thomas Cuthbertson.
A school opened in 1893 but closed four years later. The town got
telephone service early (1904) and Emily Bozeman served as operator
on the switchboard placed in her home.
A new county school district came into being in 1907 with Cuthbert
as the hub. Cuthbert had all essential businesses through the teens
and in 1920 the Texas and Pacific (Abrams No. 1) oil well came in
a mile north of the city limits. Despite the discovery, the town only
had 25 residents and two businesses in the mid-1930s. In 1936, the
Cuthbert school merged with Colorado
City schools. Things got worse after WWII
when increased mobility drew off population to Colorado
City (and beyond).
Around 1960 the post office closed, leaving a single business operating
and the population remained at 25 - the 1936 figure.
By the mid 1970s only the town cemetery remained and the population
was scattered to individual area farms. |
Cuthbert,
Texas Forum
Subject:
A forgotten ghost town of Texas
I have just recently found your [magazine] and I love it. I have kept
it in my list of favorites, and will be visiting often.
One fact I didn't find was a ghost town named Cuthbert. My grandfather
bought the property in the late 70's and found oil, ranched a little,
but mostly farmed on it. There is an old cemetery there that my aunt
tries to upkeep, but will be in ruins soon. Cuthbert was a rural community,
near the Abrams No. 1 oil well, that started the oil boom in that
time. Finally in the 40's and 50's the new highways being built bypassed
Cuthbert and she dwindled all together. A few buildings are left and
a community cemetery, not the same one that is on our property (only
a few markers remain), lots of oil wells and farm land and friends....
Thank You.
- Leo del Real, September 27, 2006 |
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Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
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