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ITASCA,
TEXASHill County,
Central Texas N
Highway 81 and FM 934
Just west of Interstate 35 West
10 miles N of Hillsboro
20 miles SE of Cleburne
Population
1,503
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Itasca
Cotton Oil Mill, 1932 |
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Photo
courtesy texasoldphotos.com |
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History
in a Pecan Shell
If you are from Minnesota and the name sounds familiar to you, it
is indeed named after Minnesota's Lake Itasca, at the head of the
Mississippi.
Katy Railroad agent, G. M. Dodge purchased 100 acres of land here
in 1881 and lots were offered to the public later that year. The first
structure was a store and the town had a Presbyterian Church organized
in 1884. Incorporated in 1885, Itasca had a healthy population of
548 by 1890. The Masons built two-story schoolhouse in 1887.
Infrastructure
An artesian well dug in 1893 became the towns water supply. Streets
were paved in 1920 and residents had natural gas in 1923. In 1937
Hill County Electric Cooperative was founded - the third such
cooperative to be established under the Rural Electrification Act.
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Cotton
Factory in Itasca, 1908
Photo courtesy texasoldphotos.com |
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Industry
Itasca's industy began in 1901 with the operation of the Itasca
Cotton Manufacturing Company. The company annually bought 10,000
bales of locally produced cotton. The company employed 350 people,
was closed briefly during the onset of the Great Depression but reopened
in 1933. A make-work industry called the Itasca Weavers Guild
was established in 1935 to utilize left over cloth. An early factory
outlet store was opened in Dallas in 1949. Eleven more such stores
were spread around the state by the mid-1950s. The Itasca Cotton
Manufacturing Company was sold in 1962 and the town began a serious
decline.
In 1906 the town population was 2,500 - nearly double the 2000 figure
of 1,523.
Worthy of a Movie
The Itasca Mail was the town's first newspaper. Renamed the
Item in 1900, the paper continued publishing for over 100 years
when a rival paper came to town. The rival paper underestimated potential
revenues and it pulled out a short town later, leaving the town without
news. The local high school took up the slack and took on the responsibility
of providing residents with local news. This unusual story reached
the New Yorker magazine in 2003 and plans were made for a movie.
The experience gained at the newspaper has caused several graduates
to enter journalism programs in various universities - and the fruits
of this inventive program will continue to are yet to be seen. It
is a program that would serve many communities without newspapers.
Book Your Hotel Here & Save
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© John Troesser |
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