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Church steeple and Water tower in Kosse
TE Photo June 2001 |
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History in
a Pecan Shell
Kosse was named for Theodore Kosse, chief engineer for the Houston
and Texas Central railroad. Kosse also surveyed the town when the
railroad arrived in 1869.
In the 1840s, long before the railroad arrived, the town of Eutaw
was two miles west of present day Kosse near Duck Creek. Eutaw was
connected to the outside world ( Franklin, Marlin and Waco) by stageline.
With the arrival of the railroad, businesses moved to Kosse from Eutaw
and even the post office relocated in 1870.
In 1871, now that they were distinctly a town proper, a town government
was installed. In 1880 there were 500 Kosseans (Kossites? Kossacks?)
- a respectible population for a town that still had the bloom of
youth. The town not only had the railroad, but a newspaper as well.
By 1885, Kosse was thriving with two sawmills, three gristmills, and
several cotton gins. Kosse also had the first brickworks in the county,
a boon enterprise since it brought in cash from smaller towns needing
brick. The clay deposits were such that they caught the eye of an
Englishman who opened a ceramics works in 1870. |
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Big Elm Creek
Bridge on CR159 NW of Kosse
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, August 2006 |
First Methodist
Church
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, August 2005 |
First Baptist
Church
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, June 2005 |
Ebenezer Church
East of Kosse
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, June 2005 |
| Photo courtesy
Barclay Gibson, August 2005 |
Land was donated for a school by 1884, and by 1892-93 Kosse became
an ISD with two schools. By 1914 the town was only up to 700 people,
but it more than doubled by 1928. The 1,500 people enumerated that
year marked the town's high-water mark.
The decline began predicably with the onset of the Great Depression
and eventually Kosse schools consolidated with the Groesbeck
ISD.
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Kosse,
Texas Forum
Anyone wishing
to share history or photos of Kosse, Texas, please contact
us.
© John Troesser
More photos by Barclay
Gibson |
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