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Entering Boonsville
Photo courtesy Mike
Price, July 2009 |
History
in a Pecan Shell
Pioneer settler Stephen Boon is the namesake
of both the community and the nearby creek. In the 1870s the village was forming
with a nucleus of about 30 people. Later that decade the residents applied for
and were granted a post office. The settlement had two cotton gins around 1880
and by the following year there were three stores in operation.
In 1882
the village moved from its site on the creek to the present location. Hopes of
a railroad connection were
dashed in the 1890s but despite this serious drawback, the 1914 population remained
at a respectable population of 150. Growth came to a standstill and the population
remained at the same level through the early 1970s. Boonville schools merged with
those in Bridgeport
in 1950. The post office closed in the mid-1960s. In the second half of the 1970s
the population took a severe dip to a mere 52 people where it remained through
the 1990 Census. The same number was used for the count in 2000. |
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