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LOONEYVILLE,
TEXASNacogdoches
County, East Texas
FMs 225 and 343
16 miles NW of Nacogdoches
Just 2 miles from Cushing
Population:
Dispersed
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Looneyville
Grocery sign
Photo Courtesy Barclay Gibson, January 2006 |
History
in a Pecan Shell
First
settlers started appearing in the 1860s. Storekeeper John Looney was
honored with having the town named after him in the early 1870s. Like
most early towns, the post office was set up in the local store and
in 1874 the Looneyville post office opened in John Looney's store.
The office closed in 1878, reopened eleven years later and then closed
for good in 1905.
Lumber was the town's main industry and several sawmills operated
in and around Looneyville in the late 19th Century. The town reached
a population zenith in the 1890s with just 100 Looneyvillians. A Looneyville
school was in operation in 1900 and the population decline started
just after WWI. It managed to survive the Great Depression with 40
people. After the closing of the school in the 1960s, only a church
and store were left. |
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Former gas station in Looneyville
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, January 2006 |
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The
former Looneyville Store
Photo Courtesy Barclay Gibson, January 2006 |
The town has
been declared a "dispersed rural community" in the1990s and the store
has been destroyed by fire in recent years.
© John Troesser |
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