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BARDWELL, TEXAS
Ellis County,
North Central Texas
Highway 34 and FM 984
10 miles SE of Waxahachie
Population: 583 (2000)
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The
1912 Masonic Lodge in Bardwell
Photo courtesy Bob Worley |
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History in
a Pecan Shell
John W. Bardwell constructed a cotton gin one mile SW of the present
location in the 1880s and modestly named the town after himself. The
community used the nearby Bethany school for a church and and buried
their dead in the Bethany cemetery.
Bardwell built their own school in 1892 and Baptist and Methodist
churches in 1893. A post office branch was opened that same year.
In 1907 the Trinity and Brazos Valley Railway came through Ellis County
and the community moved to be near it. Bardwell prospered throughout
the 1920s as a cotton shipping point with three gins in operation
and six grocery stores. By 1914 Bardwell had electricity and telephone
service from Ennis. |
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The
1912 Masonic Lodge cornerstone.
Click on photo for larger image.
Photo courtesy Bob Worley |
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In 1929 the
population was 650 - while declined drastically during the Great Depression.
With the building of the Highway 34 in the early 1940s, the businesses
moved again. Bardwell's school consolidated with the Ennis ISD in
the late 1950s. In 1972 Bardwell had 277 which has since increased
to the present 583.
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