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SALTILLO, TEXAS
Hopkins County,
East
Texas
Highway 67 and FM 900
Just N of I-30
16 Miles E of Sulphur
Springs
Population:
200
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History
in a Pecan Shell
Named after Saltillo, Mexico (no reason known) by storekeeper John
Arthur, the town was settled before the Civil War.
In 1860 the community was granted a post office. A rival store opened
across from Arthur's store which gave the town the unofficial name
of "Twin Groceries."
The population was 60 by the mid 1880s. The St. Louis Southwestern
Railroad laid tracks 1.5 miles north of Saltillo in 1887, the post
office and one store moved to the new community, creating an "Old
Saltillo" which still appears on detailed Hopkins County maps.
The population of (new) Saltillo was 350 by 1914 and all essential
businesses were established, including a newspaper.
Like most towns, Saltillo prospered in the 20s and declined in the
30s. The 1933 population of 250 residents remained for the 1940 census.
In 1964 the population had increased to 270 but has decreased to 200
by 1990. The same figure is given for the 200 census.
Old Saltillo remains in the form of a Methodist
church and cemetery. |
Familiar
Ground
by Robert Cowser
When I was younger, I could never quite understand how anyone could
be devoted to the town where I was born. My birthplace was a farm
house five miles south of Saltillo, where our post office and school
were located. When I was a teenager, Saltillo also had three groceries
and two service stations. The largest commercial building contained
a drugstore, a barber shop, and the post office. These buildings were
located on U.S. Highway 67, a two-lane road, originally known as the
Bankhead Highway and then as the “Broadway of America.” There was
also a Cotton Belt depot north of the highway that stood until 1956
when passenger service was discontinued on the route. Obviously lacking
was a motion picture theater, which even Larry McMurtry’s otherwise
deprived Archer
City had until the late 1950s.
A row of dilapidated brick buildings a few yards north of the highway
reminded us that Saltillo had once seen better days. The roofs of
two of these buildings, which once housed a bank and a newspaper office,
collapsed before I was born...more
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Memorial
Day Services at Old Saltillo Church by Robert
Cowser
Beginning in the early 1930s, annual memorial services are held at
the Old Saltillo Methodist Church in Hopkins County. Until the early
‘60s the program was scheduled for the third Thursday of July. By
that time the cotton crops had been “laid by.” It was a time of waiting
through the Dog Days of summer until the cotton bolls began to open.
Since 1960, the services are held on the second Sunday in July...
more
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