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Benjamin
M. Porter Cabin, First Millsap U.S. Post Office, 1877
Photo courtesy Lance
Carthen |
History in
a Pecan Shell
It was originally a relay station on the stagecoach route that ran from Weatherford
to Palo
Pinto. A Millsap post office opened in 1877. In 1880 the tracks of the Texas
and Pacific Railway reached the area, and three small communities moved to take
advantage of the railroad: Mineral City, Peck City, and the Millsap relay station.
By the 1890s Millsap was serving area farmers as a retail and shipping point;
within a decade the town had a bank, more than a dozen other businesses, three
churches, a ten-grade educational institution called Millsap College, and a weekly
newspaper, the Millsap News.
The community population increased
from an estimated 100 in 1890 to 800 in 1920. Between 1940 and 1970, however,
it declined, reaching a low of 261 by 1968. It has since increased to it's current
353 after a brief surge to 485 in 1990. |
Fuller
Millsap Cabin, 1852, the first building in Millsap
Photo courtesy Lance Carthen
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The
sign identifying the historic log cabins in Millsap
Photo courtesy Lance Carthen
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An
old well
Photo courtesy Lance Carthen |
Photographer's
Note:
Recently I decided to photograph the small town of Millsap TX. Millsap
is a very small town consisting of a few buildings and a convenient store. A very
old post office has been preserved in Millsap, it's the large log cabin with a
black fence in the middle of it. Enclosed also is a photo of one of the first
houses established in Millsap, a small log cabin. There is also a big red barn
on the side of the road as soon as you get into Millsap which I thought was interesting...
There was also a new post office but didn't really look worth sending, just a
modern post office... Thanks in advance - Lance Carthen, February 09, 2007
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Millsap,
Texas ForumSubject:
Indian Attacks, and Old Post Office
"I was born in Weatherford,
was raised in Millsap and different branches of my family have been in this area
since the mid 1800s. As a child I played in the “Old Millsap Cabin” on
the “Old Millsap Place” when it was located on Grindstone Creek just off
the present day Wilson Bend Road several miles outside of town.
There
are some old stories about Indian attacks associated with this place and
there was a huge old oak tree in what was then its front yard where it was rumored
that Fuller hung seven dead Indians killed in one of the fights. My brother and
I, would hunt arrow heads there and imagine scenes of the battles when we would
find one.
The cabin you show as the: “Fuller Millsap Cabin, c.1852, the
first building in Millsap” has always been rumored to be the “Old Post Office”
and was associated with Ben Porter but it was never even near Millsap. It was
located on the old stage line between Millsap and Mineral
Wells, and to my knowledge, its “post office” status was only a story. We
could never figure out how people in that time would travel 7 or 8 miles outside
of town just for mail.
There are still a few of the old timers around here but most of them that I heard
the stories from have long since passed away and it is getting harder and harder
to even find anyone here that is from the area.
My father is probably one
of the best sources for local history; he was born in Millsap in the 1930s and
lived in Millsap and Brock most of his life." - Wayne Armstrong Millsap, Texas,
March, 2010
Texas
Escapes, in its purpose to preserve
historic, endangered and vanishing Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their
local history, stories, and vintage/historic photos, please contact
us. | |
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