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Cummins Town
Site Historical Marker
Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson, December 2009 |
Photographer's
Note:
This is all that is left of Cummins - Barclay
Gibson |
Historical Marker
:
Site of Town
of Cummins
The pioneer settlement
of Cummins developed at this site about 1890 around the saddle and
harness shop of the earliest permanent settler, Mississippi native
Robert Benjamin Cummins (b. 1848). A post office opened here in 1890
with J.H. Kellis as postmaster. The following year the nearby town
of Sterling
City (1.9 miles east) was founded.
The two towns became rivals for the designation of county seat when
the Texas Legislature created Sterling
County from Tom
Green County on March 4, 1891. An intense publicity campaign developed,
aided by the writings of the respective town newspaper editors: W.
L. Thurman of the Cummins paper, the "North Concho News", and S. R.
Ezzell of the "Sterling Courier". An election, conducted May 20, 1891,
appeared to be a victory for Cummins until several voting boxes were
dismissed for technical reasons, resulting in a tie. A second election
on July 7 gave Sterling
City a 13-vote margin and it was named the county seat.
Most Cummins businesses and residents had moved to Sterling
City by the end of 1891. Nothing remains of the early townsite,
which once included a school, saloon, meat market, mercantile, blacksmith
shop, and grocery stores. |
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Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories,
landmarks and recent or vintage photos, please contact
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