| History
in a Pecan Shell
The site Geneva is on the Old San Antonio Road and
considered to be the oldest continuously occupied town in East
Texas, although there were times when it looked as if it might be abandoned.
In the mid-1700s Antonio
Gil Ybarbo established a ranch he called El Lobanillo. In 1773 when
the Spanish enforced an evacuation, the old and infirm remained at Ibarvo's ranch.
One Juan Ignacio Pifermo applied for the land in 1794. It was confirmed in 1810,
and was passed to his heirs who lived in the area into the 1840s. A historical
marker commemorates the El Lobanillo Ranch. In the 1850s, a community called Shawnee
Village developed. It was latter called Jimtown, after early settlers
Jim Halbert and Jim Willis. A post office was granted in 1884 under the name Geneva
and by 1890 the population was 150. By 1925 the population had fallen to 100,
a figure the town is evidently comfortable with since it's been reported at that
level since 1933.
More about Geneva:
Lobanillo
by Bob Bowman ("All Things Historical")
There
are four faces of old Lobanillo, which straddles East
Texas’ oldest highway less than 20 miles from the Texas-Louisiana border.
But
overriding the name is the fact that the site is considered to be one the oldest
places continuously occupied in East Texas.
First, of course, was La Lobanillo, the pueblo of Gil
Ybarbo, where his mother and other refugees remained when Spain evacuated
colonists from western Louisiana and East
Texas in 1773.
When Lobanillo exchanged hands, it was known as Shawnee
Village and later as Jimtown, a name shaped after the first names of Jim Halbert
and Jim Willis.
And, finally, along came Geneva, today’s name for the town
at the intersection of El
Camino Real (Texas Highway 21) and Farm Road 330 in northwestern Sabine County.
To
tell the town’s story...more
More
places, stories & photos:
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