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  Texas : Towns A-Z / Gulf Coast : Blessing

BLESSING, TEXAS

Matagorda County, Gulf Coast
Highway 35 and FM 616
29 Miles W of Bay City
24 miles S of El Campo
44 miles NE of Port Lavaca
60 miles E of Victoria
Population 861 (2000)

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History in a Seashell

Blessing was established on property belonging to Jonathan Edwards Pierce. Pierce gave the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railroad a right-of-way but no one had yet named the town. Pierce was so relieved to get a town to ship his cattle that he had suggested the name "Thank God," but postal authorities considered that somewhat blasphemous. Blessing was suggested and the postal authorities gave theirs. The post office opened in 1903.

Between 1903 and 1905 a library building was attached to the train station. In 1905 the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway also built through Blessing. D. A. Wheeler's hotel soon followed.
Blessing Hotel Blessing Texas
Blessing Hotel
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, July 2005

On September 1, 1907, residents platted the townsite, and the townsite company made provisions for school and church sites. In 1909 P. Ansley established a local newspaper. By 1914 Blessing had 500 inhabitants, two churches, a bank, a hotel, a telephone connection, and a weekly newspaper, the Blessing News.

In 1925 Blessing's population was still recorded at 500. In 1931 the town had a population of 450 and twenty-two businesses.

During the 1937-38 school year, nine teachers instructed 251 white students in eleven grades, and two teachers instructed thirty-eight black students in seven grades. By 1949 the Blessing district had been consolidated with the Tidehaven Independent School District.

In 1945 Blessing's population had risen to 600, served by thirteen businesses. Though in 1966 the population was reported as 1,250; in 1968 it had dropped to 405.

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