History in a
Pecan Shell
The town which was settled on an Indian burial ground
was named for a pioneer settler. In 1882 a post office named Hanover was established.
The post office and a store both closed two years later. A second store opened
in 1890 and storekeeper Henry M. Mucklevane applied for a post office under the
name of Bynum. Within two years Bynum had a population of 150 and all essential
businesses as well as two doctors and The Bynum String Band.
With the
arrival of the Texas and Brazos Valley Railroad in 1904, the town shifted a half
mile to be alongside the rails. The town took the unusual step of buying a farmer's
land for the new location. When the lots went on sale the town had a population
of 163. Three churches were moved from the former town site and in 1905 a brick
two-story school was constructed.
In the mid 1920s, with the population
around 350, Bynum experienced a business district fire but soon rebuilt the damaged
stores. A second disaster in the form of a tornado destroyed downtown Bynum again
in 1930. Between the cotton crop being infested by the boll
weevil and the onset of the Great Depression, Bynum was hit hard. The railroad
was jokingly referred to as the "Boll Weevil" route. Sold to the Burlington-Rock
Island Railroad in 1930, the rails between Hillsboro and Hubbard were closed as
a cost-cutting measure in 1935. Highway 171 which connects Hillsboro
and Mexia was built about this same time period.
Bynum
was still recovering after the end of WWII. When the Gilmer-Aikin
Laws forced smaller schools to consolidate with larger districts, Bynum received
a shot in the arm when schools in the nearby communities of Brandon, Davis, Grove
Creek, Malone, Prairie Valley, and Watson had their schools merge with those in
Bynum. |
