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Texas Ghost
Town
CALF CREEK , TEXASMcCulloch
County, Texas Hill Country
FM
1311 off US 190
12 miles SW of Brady
29 miles E of Menard
70 miles NW of Fredericksburg
Population: Estimated to be 23
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The
creek bed of Calf Creek.
Photo by John Troesser, 2000 |
History
in a Pecan Shell
The most famous reference to Calf Creek is for a battle fought in
1831. James Bowie, and ten of his closest friends fought a
combined force of Caddo and Lipan Indians along the creek. Estimates
vary from 150 to 800 Indians. A nearby historical marker tells the
whole story.
The community is, of course, named after the creek (that runs from
10 miles NE of Menard until
it joins the San
Saba River in NW Mason County). This wasn't always the case. The
settlement was first known as Deland, after a Kansas family
who settled here in 1874. From 1906 to 1909 there was a post office
in operation under the name Deland, Texas and it was roughly two miles
south of present-day Calf Creek.
From 1909 until 1915 the community moved a mile to the north where
a storekeeper named Lum Tucker opened a post office in his store.
Having filed the application, Lum requested that the post office (and
therefore the town) be named after him. Besides the post office and
store, Tucker, Texas also had a blacksmith and cotton gin.
It wasn't until 1915 when the post office moved a mile north and took
the name Calf Creek. |
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The school's front enterance
Photo by John Troesser, 2000 |
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A
classroom with the floor and blackboards missing.
Photo by John Troesser, 2000 |
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The
rear of the 1921 schoolhouse
Photo by John Troesser, 2000 |
The
old one-teacher school was replaced in 1921 with a sturdier building
with four classrooms. Enrollment leapt from 21 students in 1898 to
around 100 by the early 20s. It merged with Brady
schools in 1949 when the population was reported as 50.
School consolidations drew families away from the smaller towns -
robbing them of their future. Calf Creek's population declined even
further and the last straw was the closing of the post office in 1953.
It was down to a mere 23 people in 1990, the same estimated figure
on the 2004 state map.
A church and a cemetery appear on county maps and the ruins of the
old school sit a half mile west of the highway. |
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"The
road that runs west to the school."
Photo by John Troesser, 2000 |
Calf Creek
Forum
Subject: Calf
Creek School
My mother was Minnie Mae Bradshaw. She was the youngest child of James
Henery and Minnie Ann. She had fond memories of attend the old school
at Calf Creek. She and her brother Claude would ride together on a
horse in order to attend school. My father, E H Gray, also attended
the Calf Creek school. The Bradshaw farm is still owned by a family
member today and the family gathers yearly at Lake Brady. - Jane
Dumas, August 05, 2005
Subject: The Battle of Calf Creek
I have researched and written on this subject since about 1974.
That battle occurred in 1831. There were no "settlers" in that area
until 1878 when my ancestor moved to the area. next
page
Anyone with stories, memories, information or photos of Calf Creek,
Texas, please contact
us.
©
John Troesser |
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