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History
in a Pecan ShellFirst
known as Lenoir, the community was settled in the late 1850 or early 1860s.
In the 1880s, with the arrival of the St. Louis-San Francisco Railroad, it was
renamed to honor Terence V. Powderly, a commissioner of immigration in the McKinley
administration (although no one knows why). The town acquired a post office in
1888 although it only had an estimated population of 30 two years later.
It broke the 100 mark in 1914, although that figure was short-lived. It was down
to 63 citizens by the early 1930s. It managed to survive the Great Depression
as well as the postwar exodus to the cities. It reported 120 people for the 1950
census and 150 by the mid 1960s. It has since increased to the present (2000)
estimate of 185. |
1940s
Lamar County map showing Powderly (N of Paris
)
Courtesy Texas General Land Office | |
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