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History in
a Pecan ShellLondon,
aka London Town materialized sometime in the late 1870s or early 1880s
when former Union Army officer Len L. Lewis moved into the area to trade horses.
Lewis married locally and with holdings of a half-section of land, he planned
the future town. Ed, Tom, and Robert Stevenson opened a store there in 1881 and
the town was platted to include a square and forty town lots.
A post
office opened in the Stevenson store in 1892 under the name London and it was
used to denote the town as well.
Within two years the population had increased
to 30 people and by 1896 it was up to 100. In 1914 London's populatin was 175
and by 1930 it was up to 360. The Great Depression, reduced the population by
half and many of the town's businesses closed but by 1943 the town had grown to
over 400. After WWII a decline
brought the population down to 250. There were only 110 Londoners by the early
1970s and it has increased somewhat in recent years to 180. |
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Photo
A:(L to R) An old hotel, an old dance hall, and not in view was a small cafe in
the 60s & 70s
Photo courtesy Erik
Whetstone, August 2005 |
London
Grocery and Grill
Courtesy
Kathern Hogan, September 2012 |
The
McKinney Windmill and Pump building across the street from the dance hall above
Photo courtesy Erik
Whetstone, August 2005 |
Photo
B: An old store a block down the road.
This was Gussabees Cafe in the mid
60's
Photo
courtesy Erik
Whetstone, August 2005
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London
Texas ForumSubject:
London, Texas Photos
Photos A was 3 buildings made into
one. First one was an old hotel, I played in this hotel in the middle 60's. The
middle building was an old dance hall. I believe the first name it had was Tom's
place. It had large wooded windows that open to the outside. The end not in view
here was a small cafe. In late 70's they were added all together as a dance hall/housing
upstairs and the rock was added. It was all wood except the small cafe on the
north end.
Photo B: In the mid 60's this was Gussabees Cafe, little
lady of late 70's made the best hamburgers here. Notice it did not have a restroom
had to go to London hall for restroom needs.
In mid 60's when I lived
there and played ball on main street population was 90. There was a school there
on the right going toward Junction,
later was turned into a dance hall also and later burned down. Now is the London
Park I believe. There is a lot of good old time stories of London if u find the
right people to tell them.- Judy Kimmell, September 18, 2006
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