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An
old pecan orchard outside of Boling.
Photo courtesy Ken
Rudine, 2008 |
History in
a Pecan Shell
Once known as Floyd's Lane, Boling was renamed after the New York,
Texas and Mexican Railway built through around 1900. The new name came from the
middle name of Mary Bolling Vineyard, daughter of the man who platted the town.
The name was misspelled when the post office was granted.
Although new
settlers arrived after the railroad was built - the region was mostly made up
of large tracts of land which had been former plantations. In 1907 Boling may
have had a railroad connection,
but the population was less than fifty with only the most basic businesses. That
changed in the mid 1920s with the discovery of the huge oil, gas and sulfur deposits
of the Boling Dome. The boom wasn't as big as the oil boomtowns of legend, but
the population increased tenfold to nearly 500 by 1930 and reaching 800 during
WWII.
In 1941 the
Boling Independent School District was formed of Boling and the neighboring communities
of Iago and Newgulf.
The high school was in Boling, the junior high in Iago,
and the elementary school was in Newgulf.
The
population had dropped to a little over 500 in the early 1970s but by the early
90s it had grown to nearly 1,300. The Newgulf
sulfur plant closed in late 1993 and the population for Boling-Iago
was still 1,271 while Newgulf joined the list
of Texas ghost towns.
Boling
Texas Today: |
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Boling
United Methodist Church
Photo courtesy Ken
Rudine, 2008 |
Most
of the fireplugs are painted like dogs.
Photo courtesy Ken
Rudine, 2008 |
"The
water tank gauge shows the tank to be 3/4ths full. Gauge has a float in the water
connected to a cable with a weight outside the tank indicating the water level."
- Ken Rudine,
2008 photo
More Texas
Water Towers | Texas Towns |
The
town pump jack has Christmas lights on it.
Photo courtesy Ken
Rudine, 2008 |
Boling,
Texas ForumSubject:
Boling/ Iago and Newgulf
Dear
TE, I lived in Boling, Texas from 1952 - 1954 when I was about 10. There was no
elementary school in Boling so we were either bussed to Iago or New Gulf. I went
to Iago. At lunch time we were bussed to the high school in Boling. That was a
fun time in my life. I have often wondered what changes have taken place in the
last 50 years. My mother was a telephone operator in Boling and we actually (she
and I) lived in the back of the telephone office. - Alma (Hudson) Waggoner,
November 30, 2006 | |
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